With NATO’s annual summit just a month away, member nations affirm their commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security needs. But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky wants more.
The country’s leader recently conditioned his attendance at next month’s Vilnius gathering on a concrete pledge for membership. The question of Ukraine’s future in the alliance stands less as a matter of if and more a matter of when, for good reason. Consensus on the extent of support for the war-torn nation in midst of conflict continues to allude member nations.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confidently declared earlier this month that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” The Western leader echoed NATO leadership’s guarantee that Ukraine will indeed join NATO.
“We are here to stay and we will continue backing Ukraine, not just now but for years into the future,” the British leader added while speaking in Moldova at a meeting of the European Political Community.
The carrot of NATO membership for the war-torn nation dangles as a promise to ensure Ukraine’s long-term security. A swift end to the conflict remains seems less sure, but NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg alluded to Ukraine’s rightful place in the alliance as a means of ensuring that “history doesn’t repeat itself.”
The alliance’s collective defense clause stands at the heart of the 74-year-old treaty and obligates members to come to the aid of an ally attacked. NATO made clear that membership in the midst of war will not be discussed at next month’s summit.
Washington likewise stands firm in its support of Ukraine, conceding that a “proper invitation is unlikely while they’re engaged in a full-scale war,” US Ambassador Julianne Smith told Politico last week. While most Americans view Ukraine and NATO positively, support for the war-torn nation stops would likely not include an expansion of military commitments overseas.
Ukraine currently enjoys many of the benefits of NATO membership by way of nearly uninterrupted flows of aid and funds to bolster their defenses against Russia’s aggression. The U.S. Defense Department’s recently announced $2.1 billion assistance package brings total aid from the United States alone to nearly $40 billion since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Short of troops on the ground, Ukraine continues to receive significant support from NATO nations both collectively and individually.
Dollars, euros, and weapons mean little to Zelensky without security guarantees. Unless all 31 of NATO’s members agree to spend blood in defense of Ukraine, Kyiv’s best hope is for future deterrence. Talk of immediate membership and security guarantees are best left until after the war’s end.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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I support Ukraina over Gospodin Monster Putin…but then again, who knows what is really going on and who is who and who does what to whom? I’m quite sure the poor Russian boys at the front were lied to, big time. ‘In time of war the first casualty is truth.’ –Winston Churchill (?)
What is going on is that Putin has his troops slowly but surely destroying every building in every town in Ukraine, regardless of how many civilians happen to be there.Unless NATO gives them the OK to take the war to Russia, there will be nothing left of the country to even call it a nation. The thing that is probably holding NATO back is the threat of Putin using his so called “tactical nukes”. If he does, and the US and NATO hold back, then Ukraine is for sure lost. All their soldiers will have died in vain.
Russia had reasonable claims and this war could have been prevented. Obviously, the US and European countries could have used their billions to improve lives instead of participating in war. Put DJT and RFK Jr on the job and the war would end quickly.