Ukraine cannot join NATO amid ongoing war, Zelenskyy admits
Ukraine will not be able to join NATO as long as the war continues, but understands that accession will take place when it has secured its territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on July 12.
“Ukraine
understands that it cannot be a NATO member as long as the war continues,”
Zelenskyy said at a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“We met with many
people today, Ukraine will be a NATO member when the conditions are really
appropriate. By this, I understand that when it’s safe on our land.”
The results of the
NATO Summit in Vilnius are good, “but if there was an invitation to NATO, they
would be ideal,” the Ukrainian leader emphasized.
Ukraine’s entry
into the military alliance is primarily about the security of the European
continent and NATO’s eastern flank, and NATO needs Ukraine no less than Ukraine
needs NATO, Zelenskyy stressed.
He added that security guarantees the G7 countries could approve on July 12 would be a “concrete success” for Ukraine.
NATO Summit in Vilnius: What is known
The summit in
Vilnius has brought together leaders from 31 NATO countries, including U.S.
President Joe Biden, along with additional delegations from Japan, South Korea,
New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, and Sweden (Turkey has finally agreed to
unblock Sweden’s membership).
President
Zelenskyy arrived in Vilnius on July 11, along with the First Lady, Olena
Zelenska.
Ukraine hoped to
receive a clear signal regarding the prospects of a future membership of the
alliance.
On the eve of the
summit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that allies had agreed
that Ukraine would join NATO in the future without a Membership Action Plan –
the traditional process of accession for new members.
Although NATO
member states on July 11 agreed on a unified communique concerning Ukraine’s
membership in the alliance, making no timeframe commitments as to when Kyiv
might receive an invitation to join.
The communique noted
that Ukraine would be invited to join the alliance once member states agree and
all prerequisites have been satisfied – without specifying what those
prerequisites are, exactly.
The document also
remarked that the alliance would aid Ukraine in implementing reforms on its
pathway to prospective membership.
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