Although Ukraine is aiming to become a NATO member, the alliance is divided on the issue of accepting Kyiv to the club, Politico has reported.
The Finnish flag was raised for the first time at a ceremony outside NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, marking the country’s official accession to the alliance.
Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba attended a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on the same day and urged the alliance to invite Kyiv to join its ranks soon.
„While we appreciate the practical support we receive from the alliance, there is no better strategic solution to ensuring strategic security in the Euro-Atlantic region than the membership of Ukraine in the alliance,” Kuleba said.
However, there is a consensus within the alliance that Ukraine cannot join NATO any time soon, and discussions are ongoing on what signals and concrete steps could be offered to Kyiv.
“There are those who would say: Maybe nothing can happen because we need to concentrate just on the fight itself,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Politico, referring to the grinding battles in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“But I think that Ukrainian people deserve to hear what we think. And we have to have an answer for them,” he added.
An unnamed US official told Politico that Washington was sticking to the position taken at the 2008 NATO summit when it was declared that the alliance’s door was open to Ukraine.
“But the focus at this point has to be on practical support, and how do we best sustain the security assistance,” the official said.
Speaking after the NATO ministers’ meeting with Kuleba, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that allies have decided to step up their contributions to NATO’s nonlethal fund for Ukraine. This is intended to help the country move from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards.
According to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis, however, this is “not sufficient”.
“We need to show to Ukraine that their application is being taken seriously and they are making steps towards NATO, which at the end will end up with their full membership,” he said.
“I don’t see the future where Ukraine is not part of NATO,” he stressed.
The US official acknowledged that there is a “spectrum of opinion” within the alliance on this issue, with some advocating “to give Ukraine a specific date”, while others want to “evaluate as the situation evolves.”
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