On the same day that a senior UK government official said it was the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s affirmation that Ukraine was on an “irreversible path” to Nato membership, US President Donald Trump provided a dose of reality to such a lofty statement.
Negotiating difficult moments about previous commentary by US Vice President JD Vance on the risk to free speech in the UK, Starmer sought to bridge common ground with a US President that has a distinctly different viewpoint on Ukraine’s future, during a visit to Washington on 27 February.
For Trump, Ukraine’s future with Washington will be economic and transactional, nd one which will be important for US industry in gaining access to new sources of rare earth minerals and metals in the wake of China’s banning of the export to its own resources.
The UK, with many countries in Europe, sees the Ukraine issue as one of security, with the risk of a Russia emboldened by Washington’s apparent lack of interest in providing a conventional defence umbrella for its Nato allies.
In a response published with convenient timeliness to coincide with the visit of Starmer to the United States on 27 February, UK Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard, said Nato had made “a long-term commitment to Ukraine” and that Kyiv’s “rightful place” was inside the alliance.
“The [UK] Prime Minister has reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to Ukraine’s irreversible path to Nato membership, as agreed by all allies at the Washington Summit,” Pollard wrote, responding to a parliamentary written question asked a full two weeks earlier by fellow Labour MP Johanna Baxter.
“That is a process that will take time, and for now our priority is to make sure Ukraine is in the strongest possible position on the battlefield and in any potential negotiations to come,” Pollard added.
However, during a question-and-answer session with gathered media in the Oval Office later the same day, Trump was unequivocal in his stance of Ukraine’s Nato membership aspirations.
“I could be very nice and say, ‘oh well, we’ll work to it’, it’s just not going to happen. It’s not going to happen,” Trump stated.
Washington wants its money back
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in Washington on 28 February to sign a rare earth mining rights deal with the US, which will give Washington access to critical resources denied it by China.
Exact terms of the deal are still unknown, including what proportion of it will be mined effectively as compensation for financial and military aid already given to Ukraine by the US.
The US State Department published a note under the previous administration in January this year stating that the US had provided $65.9 billion in military assistance since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
In addition, since August 2021, there had been 55 uses of Presidential Drawdown Authority aid to provide Ukraine military assistance of approximately $27.688 billion from US defence stockpiles.
