Washington, 19 October. US Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with the 2WAY platform that Ukraine should not be admitted to NATO and that Kyiv should stop trying to strike Russian oil refineries.
"Ukraine is not a member of NATO. I don't think they should be a member of NATO," Vance said. He stopped short of calling Ukraine a US ally: Kyiv, he said, is a partner in certain respects, but the two countries' interests do not always align. He cited strikes on Russian oil refineries as an example: "Do I think it is right for Ukraine to strike Russian diesel production facilities and thereby raise energy prices for Americans? No." Washington, the vice president said, will keep cooperating with Kyiv in various areas, but Kyiv should stop attacking Russia's energy infrastructure. "As far as I know, we do not have a formal alliance with Ukraine," he added. The statement came amid disputes between Kyiv and Washington over military aid. Zelensky asked US senators to press the White House to resume weapons deliveries and intelligence sharing, and accused the US of delaying deliveries of Patriot interceptor missiles already paid for by European allies.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance founded in 1949 whose members pledge to defend one another if attacked. Ukraine's membership is one of the central issues in talks on ending the war: Moscow demands that Kyiv renounce joining the alliance, and the US vice president's words coincide with that demand.
Strikes on oil refineries are one of Kyiv's main ways of putting pressure on Russia: they hit fuel output and the revenue from it. For Washington they have a downside, as they push up global diesel prices, and the White House, according to CNN, is trying to bring down fuel prices in the US ahead of the midterm elections. Vance's call came shortly after a drone attack on an oil terminal and other facilities in St Petersburg and the Leningrad region.
Background: Bloomberg reports that Kyiv suspects the US of periodically restricting intelligence sharing; Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that Washington had paused such sharing.
List of sources used: TASS, RT, APA, RT, France 24, RT, France 24, CNN
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
