Ukrainian officials are still pushing for a commitment on Kyiv’s potential NATO membership at the alliance’s upcoming July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that there will be no formal invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance at the summit, which will be held from July 11-12.
Ukraine and its more hardline NATO backers recognize that Kyiv can’t join the alliance while fighting a war with Russia but want a promise on membership for when the conflict is over.
Ukrainian Ambassador to NATO Natalia Galibarenko told POLITICO on Tuesday that Kyiv seeks “some kind of invitation — or at least commitment […] to look at the timeframe and modalities of our membership.”
“We are realistic, we are not pushing right now to give us the membership,” she said. “Let’s stipulate some kind of a commitment, for example — when conditions allow, when the war will be over.”
While Galibarenko wants a promise that Ukraine can join NATO after the war, there’s no end to the conflict in sight. Such a commitment from NATO will also ensure a prolonged conflict, as one of Russia’s main motives for invading was Ukraine’s alignment with the alliance.
Ukraine was first promised it would eventually become a NATO member at the 2008 Bucharest summit but was never given a clear timeline. NATO made the commitment in 2008 even though then-US Ambassador to Russia William Burns, who now serves as CIA director, warned at the time in a cable released by WikiLeaks that Ukrainian entry into NATO was a major redline for Moscow.
Red lines were made to be crossed by just about everyone. NATO continues to expand, it is bound to piss a few people off….
Cannot fodder think they can dictate policies of the ones who r…feeding them to cannons.
Ukraine is failing in their offensive. No one takes Biden seriously and unless he uttered those words on tape somewhere (so we can prove he actually said those words about Ukraine and NATO), I seriously doubt he said them.
This is a press release from a underling, not Joe Biden saying this.
No one can ask him a couple of pointed questions about the specific topic of membership and receive clear cogent answers so how can we be sure this position is his and he can explain why it should be?
I am being completely serious btw, it is beyond time for him to be removed for cognitive issues.
‘Ukraine is failing in their offensive.’
Really?
And where is your link that shows EXACTLY what Ukraine’s goals and timetable were for the offensive?
And also shows that Ukraine is failing to meet these objectives?
Ukraine is advancing – slowly.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-june-20-2023
Though whether the offensive will succeed?
I have no idea.
They are only advancing into so called no mans land. The Russians did not build their defences right on the front lines under fire but built them a mile or two back. That is what you are calling an advance. Sorry to disappoint you.
Russia is stupidly leaving their defensive lines and confronting the Ukrainian offensive directly. They are foolishly making the same mistakes over and over! (Probably because Putin refuses to allow ANY ground to be lost.)
I also will give you credit for finally admitting Russia is losing ground (even though you refer to the lost ground as “so called no-man’s land”).
How’s that Copium working for you? Hahaha
The are not “losing” ground but are not contesting what is in front of their fortifications. You do know Germany over a week ago shared Ukraine is losing too many Leppard tanks for Germany to be able to fully replace them?
That comports with the acknowledged 30% causulaty rate Ukraine is suffering from but the jury is still out if its above 40 and hitting 50% casulaty rates.
Russia has so many tanks on the other hand they are loading up the old ones with explosives and sending them off remotely to blow up Ukrainians.
Oryx is a reliable (not over exaggerated) chronicler of armor losses has the count at 5 Leoprads (4 destroyed; 1 damaged) but I’m sure your Russian sources are more accurate. Hahaha.
The T-55 that was loaded and sent toward Ukrainian lines hit a mine and blew up. (Videos are available.) That was considered by military experts to be a “desperation move” by the Russians.
Your “jury is still out” comment is a tell that you and your sources are trying to comport your emotional beliefs with the facts-on-the-ground.
My “sources” is the ststement issued by the Germans about replacements for the heavy losses of the tanks they supplied.
Maybe the Germans are not good enough for you?
Yeah. You’re gonna have to link to that source. All I’m seeing is this:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-orders-18-new-leopard-2-tanks-replace-99628146
the map contained in that link you posted notes that Crimea is “Russian controlled Ukrainian territory before Feb 24th”.
i submit that since Ukraine began menacing Crimea back in 2014, which drove Crimea towards independence from Ukraine, that Crimea was NOT Ukrainian territory. furthermore if Ukraine is serious about absorbing Crimea then probably they should stop menacing them entirely.
I believe Victoria Nuland and her Storm Brigades will conquer Crimea and claim it as the new neo-con Mecca!
DRINK!
Why on Earth would NATO want to promise Ukraine membership?
When they have no clue what Ukraine will be like once the war is over?
I don’t like NATO.
It should have died when the Soviet Union did.
But I don’t blame them one bit on their position over Ukraine membership at this time.
Ukraine is not Afghanistan. Russia is not going to just pack up their bags and go home. They will stay in Ukraine, engaged with Ukraine for as long as it takes to achieve their goals. Denazification and neutrality of Ukraine. Russia warned us 15 years ago. 15 years of antagonization and hostilities has gotten us here. The current government in Ukraine will not accept being a landlocked rump state of a country so this war is not ending anytime soon.
Ukraine is begging to become a western slave. Why not accept Ukrainian slave application?
Who cares? NATO isn’t going to be around for much longer anyway. Who knew that Victoria “f-ck the EU” Nuland had Germany and the USA in her sights all along?
DRINK!
“We are realistic, we are not pushing right now to give us the membership,” she said. “Let’s stipulate some kind of a commitment, for example — when conditions allow, when the war will be over.”
Realism should include the possible scenario that Russia won’t back off and the only way this war will end is with Ukraine being a cratered shithole. Maybe heed Burns’ warning about Ukraine’s entry into NATO being a “major redline for Moscow”.