U.S. and Germany support postponement of Ukraine’s NATO invitation - Foreign Policy
The United States and Germany insist on postponing Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO at the upcoming summit in Washington.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Foreign Policy.
As noted, Ukraine and its Eastern European allies want an invitation to join the Alliance as soon as possible, but Washington and Berlin are wary of this.
"Ukraine and some of its staunchest supporters are pushing NATO to formally invite Kyiv to join the military alliance at a major upcoming summit, but their efforts are facing significant behind-the-scenes resistance from the United States and Germany," the article says.
Why the US and Germany hesitate
The United States and Germany, which are the largest donors of military and economic aid to Ukraine, believe that in the near future it is necessary to focus on continuing to supply Kyiv with weapons and ammunition.
In their view, it is too early to start the process of Ukraine's accession to NATO while the war with Russia is still ongoing. Ukraine's accession could provoke a conflict between NATO and Russia over the Ukrainian occupied territories.
However, in general, in the long term, they agree that Ukraine should join NATO.
Other supporters of Ukraine's membership in NATO believe that faster accession would be cheaper in the long run than the current Western strategy of supplying Kyiv with arms and ammunition.
"Delays in the transition to membership (in NATO - ed.) are not only costly for Ukraine but also costly for the Alliance," said Estonian Ambassador to the United States Christian Prikk.
One of the most ardent supporters of Ukraine's immediate invitation to NATO is Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and predecessor of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
"Very often I hear the argument that we cannot invite Ukraine to join NATO while the war is ongoing. I think this is an extremely dangerous argument, because it de facto gives Putin a veto over NATO and gives him an incentive to continue military operations in Ukraine indefinitely," he stressed.
It may take years for all NATO members to agree to accept Ukraine
At the same time, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states believe that only Ukraine's membership in NATO will convince Russia to slow down its invasion and end the war.
Foreign Policy journalists believe that getting more than 31 NATO members to agree to accept Ukraine is likely to be exponentially more difficult and could take years.
According to some experts, if the United States takes a strong stance in favour of Ukraine's membership, at least most of the other NATO members who are currently wavering on the issue will follow suit.
