"Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic bloc, as well as the deployment of NATO military contingents and strike weapons on its territory, are absolutely unacceptable for us. We have spoken about this many times and explained our position, it is well known," Grushko said when asked which NATO-related issues in the Ukrainian settlement Moscow is unwilling to compromise on.
Talks on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict were held in Berlin on 14–15 December with the participation of US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Volodymyr Zelensky. Following the talks, EU leaders issued a statement on security guarantees for Ukraine and measures to resolve the conflict. In particular, the proposals include deploying multinational forces to the country and maintaining the strength of the Ukrainian armed forces at no fewer than 800,000 personnel.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously stressed that any scenario involving the deployment of NATO member states’ troops in Ukraine is categorically unacceptable to Russia and would risk a sharp escalation.