Trump believes Biden's remarks about Ukraine's potential NATO membership triggered Russia's invasion.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed the opinion that his predecessor, Joe Biden, should not have announced the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. This seemingly provoked Russia to initiate a large-scale military invasion.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing Trump’s statement during a press conference.

According to the American leader, Russia "could not allow" Ukraine to become a full member of the North Atlantic Alliance due to its "position." Therefore, the U.S. president justified the Kremlin's decision to start a full-scale war.

While criticizing the Biden administration for its stance on Ukraine's potential NATO membership, Trump stated that, in his view, the former U.S. president "should not have started this, and it should not have happened."

"I see no way that a country in Russia's situation could allow this (referring to Ukraine joining NATO). Simply in their position, they (the Russians) could not allow them (the Ukrainians) to join the Alliance," stated the current U.S. president.

Trump also mentioned that Russia had supposedly been "clear" about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO for a long time, but "Biden came out and said that Ukraine could join the Alliance."

"As soon as he did that, I said, 'Now you will have a war.' And I was right," the U.S. president said.

Trump reiterated his assertion that a large-scale war by Russia against Ukraine supposedly "would never have happened" if he had been in the Oval Office.

Ukraine's NATO Membership

Let us recall that Ukraine hoped to receive an official invitation to join the Alliance at the NATO summit in Washington, which took place in July 2024. However, this did not happen.

The Ukrainian authorities insist on adopting a clear timeline for accession, yet there are still no specific decisions. The Alliance notes that "the doors to NATO" remain open, but membership is not possible until the war is over.

Recently, U.S. President Trump stated that he considers Ukraine's NATO membership unlikely or impractical. Prior to that, on February 12, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin stated at a "Ramstein" format meeting that the U.S. does not view Ukraine joining NATO as a "realistic" outcome of peace negotiations.

On February 13, NATO responded to the Pentagon chief's statements regarding Ukraine's membership in the Alliance. Additionally, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius criticized the American side's statements about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, calling them "concessions to Russia even before negotiations began."

As noted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, if Ukraine is not in NATO, then the Alliance should be on Ukrainian territory. According to the heads of state, the alternative to Ukraine's NATO membership would be the presence of Alliance troops on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, there should be an army in the country that is comparable in size to the Russian one.