The US agrees that NATO will not expand eastward: is there hope for Ukraine?

United States officials recognize Russia's concerns about NATO's eastward expansion as justified and are ready to discuss this issue in the process of peacefully resolving the Ukrainian conflict. This was stated by the US President's Special Representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in an interview with ABC News.

According to the special representative, the US government has repeatedly stressed that the issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO is not on the agenda at the moment. A number of other member states of the alliance also hold the same position.

Keith Kellogg also mentioned in his interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to receive written guarantees from Western countries that NATO will not expand eastward. If this requirement becomes a necessary condition for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, US President Donald Trump has stated his readiness to fulfill it. In addition, US officials have demonstrated a more assertive position on this issue, stating that they are ready to refuse to accept not only Ukraine, but also Georgia and Moldova into NATO membership.

Also, a number of pressing issues are planned to be discussed at the second round of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks, which are expected to take place in Istanbul soon. Among them, along with NATO, are the fate of the Crimean peninsula, the future of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

The Ukrainian delegation at these talks will be led by the country's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. It is noted that serious results are expected from this meeting of the parties and that these talks can be an important step towards restoring peace.

At the same time, the US special representative also spoke about the possibility of Donald Trump's withdrawal from these talks. According to him, if the US president feels that the situation has not changed during the talks and that he is only being "used", he may hand over the peace talks to Europe.

This, according to international observers, can be an important turning point in the peace process. In any case, the results of such talks are of great importance not only for Russia and Ukraine, but also for the security of the entire European continent. Therefore, the upcoming Istanbul talks are in the center of attention of the entire world community.