Trump: Ukraine Can't Join NATO, or Get Crimea Back

President Trump and his advisers were on Sunday trying to reframe Friday's lack of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire as a tangible step in a longer process toward peace, dialing back the more immediate goals Trump had outlined just 48 hours earlier, the New York Times reports. Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy who attended the Anchorage talks with Vladimir Putin, told CNN that Putin indicated some willingness to make concessions, suggesting openness to security protections for Ukraine—but not NATO membership, a longstanding Ukrainian hope.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also joined Trump in Alaska, struck a more cautious tone on ABC, warning that any agreement would require concessions from both sides and remains far off. Rubio said some progress had been made in defining possible areas of agreement, but that "big areas of disagreement" remain. While fighting continued across Ukraine over the weekend, Witkoff said no land deals were struck between Putin and Trump, though he confirmed that five Ukrainian regions were discussed. The Trump team's messaging marks a shift from Friday, when Trump threatened "severe consequences" should Russia refuse a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet Trump on Monday, joined by top European leaders including Germany's chancellor, France's president, and Britain's prime minister. Trump's team says the meeting will focus on trying to move talks forward enough to bring Putin and Zelensky to the same table. Trump has floated a non-specific security guarantee for Ukraine modeled loosely on NATO's Article 5, and Witkoff claims Putin seemed open to it. Meanwhile, Trump himself on Sunday confirmed in a Truth Social post that NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table, as is the return of Russian-occupied Crimea, Al Jazeera reports.

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"President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Trump said. "Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!" Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, the BBC reports.