Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

An unnamed source told The Associated Press that senior US State Department officials told Ukraine that a NATO membership is unlikely to be approved within the next decade, a sign the US is not willing to further escalate tensions with Russia over Ukraine.

Biden administration officials also told AP that the US might pressure Ukraine to give autonomy to separatists in its eastern Donbas region, something Kyiv agreed to do under the Minsk Protocol, which was signed in 2014. Such a move could significantly de-escalate tensions in the region.

After the US orchestrated a coup in Kyiv in 2014, separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts rejected the new government and declared their independence. Kyiv rejected the oblasts' bid for independence, and a war was started, which has killed over 10,000 people.