During the 75th anniversary celebration of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the commitment to Ukraine’s future membership in the defensive alliance. Blinken, along with other member states, discussed the ongoing Russian aggression and the importance of Ukraine’s potential inclusion in NATO. The Secretary of State emphasized the long-standing belief shared by NATO leaders that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance.
Watch:
Blinken says that Ukraine will be joining NATO. Under Article 5, this means that an attack on Ukraine will be considered an attack on the United States. If you want World War 3, vote Biden in November. pic.twitter.com/kv0fyv5zdf
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) April 4, 2024
Last year, U.S. President Biden and NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg made several remarks indicating that “Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO.” However, the reality is more intricate, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz provided a comprehensive explanation, stating that Ukraine does not fulfill the necessary criteria to be granted membership.
He said in 2023 that: “It is also clear that we then have to discuss which security guarantees can be given in a post-war situation. But we are far from there yet. Now we are concentrating on what is coming up… NATO’s criteria include a whole series of conditions that Ukraine cannot currently meet.”
Despite this, efforts to bring Ukraine into NATO as quickly as possible have been ongoing in private. In response to Blinken’s remarks today, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba disclosed that the alliance is currently focusing on the upcoming stages of the membership process.
He went on to thank Blinken:
“…it is up to allies themselves to decide on the form and the content towards the next step of Ukraine’s membership in NATO. I understand a decision has been taken today to task the military part of the alliance of designing what that next step may be. We will be looking forward to the outcome. Of course we beleive Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO and that this should happen sooner rather than later.”
Despite Ukraine not yet formally joining NATO, several member countries are making significant progress in establishing ‘NATO-lite’ partnerships with Ukraine. These partnerships involve signing 10-year treaties with Kyiv, pledging additional funding, support, and military aid in the event of another Russian invasion during the agreement’s duration. Finland became the eighth country to sign such a NATO-lite agreement just yesterday, following the United Kingdom in January, and subsequently Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands.
