NATO chief, clarifying stance, says solely Ukraine can set phrases of peace negotiations.

Only Ukraine can resolve when it would negotiate with Russia to finish the conflict, and what an appropriate resolution may be, Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary normal of NATO, mentioned on Thursday, clarifying NATO’s stance after his chief of employees, Stian Jenssen, steered on Tuesday that Ukraine may acquire alliance membership in trade for ceding its Russian-occupied territory.

Mr. Jenssen had created a world stir with the suggestion, which Ukraine considers an unacceptable choice. He later apologized for the feedback, which have been first reported by the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, including that it was a mistake and that it was crucially essential that NATO helps Ukraine.

On Thursday, Mr. Stoltenberg mentioned at a convention in Norway that NATO’s stance on Ukraine’s potential alliance membership had not modified.

“It is the Ukrainians, and only the Ukrainians, who can decide when there are conditions in place for negotiations, and who can decide at the negotiating table what is an acceptable solution,” Mr. Stoltenberg mentioned, in keeping with Reuters.

John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, echoed Mr. Stoltenberg at a news convention on Wednesday, dismissing the opportunity of exchanging Ukrainian territory for alliance membership.

“Yeah, there’s nothing to that,” he mentioned.

At a summit assembly in July, NATO mentioned that Ukraine could be invited to affix the alliance, however remained obscure on how or when. The place was basically a victory for President Biden, who had mentioned beforehand that Ukraine was not prepared for NATO membership, although President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had sharply criticized the “uncertainty” over Ukraine’s path to membership.

Ukrainian officers expressed outrage at Mr. Jenssen’s remarks.

“Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelensky, wrote in a submit on X, previously referred to as Twitter. “That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations.”

A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko, additionally condemned Mr. Jenssen’s suggestion in a Facebook submit, calling it “completely unacceptable.”

Russia indicated it was no extra keen on the concept. Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, referred to as Mr. Jenssen’s suggestion “a bogus story that has certain political goals,” in keeping with Tass, a state news company.

And the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, mentioned on Telegram that Ukraine must surrender its capital, Kyiv, if it have been to think about exchanging territories for NATO membership.