Kyiv was betrayed by those who promised it NATO and EU membership so it fights Russia and rejects any compromise in a war it cannot win.

On February 12, Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin and then posted on Truth Social that they agreed to work together in order to stop “millions of deaths taking place” in the Ukraine-Russia war. This was followed by the announcement of a possible summit between the two in Saudi Arabia.

In an abrupt departure from the key talking points of the previous US administration, he (Hegseth) said Ukraine cannot hope to restore sovereignty over its entire territory and that its NATO membership should be off the table to get the talks going.

With these statements, the Trump administration effectively struck down the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership which laid out mutual commitment to territorial integrity and inviolability of borders and identified Ukraine’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions (NATO and the European Union) as a priority policy goal.

The choices Ukraine is left with are all grim. This was apparent in Zelenskyy’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, which was meant to show defiance but smacked of desperation.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/2/17/it-is-not-trump-that-betrayed-ukraine