NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said today that any potential solutions to the crisis in Ukraine must include the country. Rutte also called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "strong negotiator" and added that his participation in the talks was necessary to achieve peace, reported "Reuters".

"I had many meetings with him from 2010-2014 in my previous capacity. He is a strong negotiator and he is unpredictable. But if we want a peace solution, he must be part of the negotiations," Rutte said.

Rutte's statements come after US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he had agreed with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to immediately begin negotiations to end the war.

Ukraine's membership in NATO has never been a condition for achieving peace, Rutte reminded, commenting on Washington's views that the country's membership in the Alliance is "impractical" and "unrealistic."

"There was never such an agreement... Ukraine was never promised that it would become part of NATO as part of the peace agreement," Rutte said after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

He specified that there was always talk about "the need for security guarantees for Ukraine."

NATO defense ministers have noted and discussed US President Donald Trump's initiative to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, NATO's secretary general said.

He added that "the ministers held a discussion on the latest developments" with the participation of the Ukrainian defense minister and the head of European diplomacy.