A debate has flared up among NATO member countries, putting pressure on the US President Joe Biden to support a much faster and more reliable path to membership for Ukraine.
The American newspaper The New York Times (NYT) writes about it.
Many allies, especially countries bordering Russia, want to show their commitment to Ukraineʼs NATO membership ahead of the allianceʼs July summit. According to Biden administration officials, some want to see a timetable and a specific goal set for true membership, "but only after the war stops raging."
Biden approaches this issue cautiously, as he does not want to involve NATO in a direct conflict with Moscow. In addition, taking into account the desire of the US president to prevent any splits in the alliance, all options for Ukraineʼs admission to NATO are associated with significant costs. Only Germany completely sided with Biden.
According to one high-ranking American official who is actively involved in the discussions, the question of Ukraineʼs membership has become an "all-consuming debate" both in Europe and within the Biden administration.
Several high-ranking American officials, led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, apparently took the position that the Biden administration will be forced to indicate a more concrete path for Ukraine to membership, even if no date is set.
On Tuesday, June 13, Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg presented Biden with a compromise proposal in which NATO would agree that Ukraine would not have to go through the standard procedure for membership applicants before it could join.
At NATOʼs July summit in Vilnius, Ukraineʼs President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to receive a set of commitments by the alliance from member states to continue supplying arms, ammunition and money in the medium term — regardless of the fate of the current counteroffensive or the election.
NATO is also expected to elevate its relations with Ukraine from the NATO-Ukraine Commission to the Ukraine-NATO Council, which means a higher level of interaction and integration.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda calls for Ukraine to join NATO. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron prefer to talk about security guarantees.
- In April, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said that at the July NATO summit in Vilnius, the Alliance should make a political decision: present a timetable for Ukraineʼs accession or commit to doing so by the end of the year, so that this would be a signal to Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky will also come to the July summit — he has accepted the invitation.
- According to The Wall Street Journal, the USA, Great Britain, Germany and France can become security guarantors for Ukraine before its accession to NATO. This will be the so-called "Israeli security model".
- In September 2022, the Office of the President of Ukraine informed about the project of international security guarantees of Ukraine. A group of experts led by the head of the OP Andriy Yermak and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen worked on the development of the document. The OP emphasizes that these guarantees do not replace Ukraineʼs movement towards membership in the EU and NATO. After becoming a member of the European Union, Ukraine will be able to use the clause on mutual defense of the EU, and after becoming a member of NATO — the clause on collective defense of the Alliance.