Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha said he would call on NATO leaders at a meeting in Brussels next week to invite Ukraine to join the Western military alliance, according to a letter sent to alliance leaders. It said this reflects the country's enthusiastic push to gain membership in the alliance in the final stages. After Biden's inauguration as President.
First, a letter Review by Reuters, The issue comes as Ukraine renews its appeal for NATO membership to help end Russia's war, which has included a recent increase in attacks on its energy infrastructure. It also coincided with the Biden administration giving new authorization to Ukraine to fight back against Russia in its final months in office.
In a letter, Ukraine's foreign minister acknowledged that Kiev is currently unable to join NATO due to the ongoing war with Russia. But he argued that an invitation to Brussels would be a strong show of force and a major symbolic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long opposed the idea of joining NATO.
“I believe that the invitation should be extended at this stage,” Sibiha said in the letter. “This would be an appropriate Allied response to the continued escalation of the war provoked by Russia, the latest demonstration of which involves the participation of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons. ” he added.
Also on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy used a Sky News interview to increase public pressure on NATO leaders to expand their country's membership offer.
busy Stuart Ramsay of Friday to Sky News Ukraine's president has indicated that NATO may extend its membership to Ukrainian territory still under its control in order to speed up the process of joining NATO and end the war with Russia as quickly as possible.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to bring the Ukrainian territory we control under the NATO umbrella,” he said. said Ramsay. He said NATO should “immediately” cover parts of the country under Ukraine's control, apparently with Russian President Vladimir Putin in mind, which is “very necessary” for Ukraine. “Otherwise he will come back,” he stressed.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a televised speech in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2023. Sputnik/Gabriil Grigorov/Kremlin, via Reuters (Reuters)
Despite the alliance's assurances that it is on an “irreversible path” to membership, Ukraine will face many hurdles if it seeks to join NATO.
That's because Ukraine lacks two key requirements for NATO membership: territorial integrity and the absence of ongoing conflict. Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory, Rebecca Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and author of “Putin's Playbook,” said in an interview on Fox News Digital on Friday. .
Mr. Koffler said that countries seeking membership “cannot continue to have conflicts because of Article 5.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin considers Ukraine to be part of Russia's strategic security border, so for Russia, “Ukraine's membership in NATO is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Koffler added. Ta.
NATO members are also divided over the idea of accepting Ukraine. “Opponents are concerned about Article 5 obligations,” Koffler said. “If Ukraine joins NATO, the collective self-defense clause automatically puts the United States and the entire NATO alliance at war with Russia.” It will happen,” he said.
The State Department announced Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Sibikha to discuss battlefield updates and future U.S. security assistance in the wake of recent Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. . In the call, Blinken “briefed the foreign ministers about the United States' goals for sustainable support for Ukraine, which will be discussed in future diplomatic negotiations with NATO and through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group,” the officials said. said.
The press release stopped short of detailing further moves toward Ukraine.
Still, Ukraine's push to join comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his administration prepare for the many unknowns that will come with Trump's second term in office. President Trump has long expressed skepticism about NATO and suggested earlier this year that he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in “one day.”
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Republican presidential candidate former US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, USA on September 27, 2024. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo)
Ukraine's push to join NATO is nothing new, but the timeline for leaders to approve NATO membership has taken on new urgency as the civil war nears its third year and President-elect Trump prepares to take office again. It's increasing.
NATO membership was included as one of the first and most important steps in President Zelenskiy's multi-part “victory plan” to win the war with Russia.
The outline, released by the administration in October, states that if Ukraine's demands for more weapons and the ability to continue to carry out military operations on Russian territory are approved, Russia could move forward as early as 2025. This suggests that there is a possibility of ending the war with
Mr. Koffler said that countries seeking membership “cannot continue to have conflicts because of Article 5.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin considers Ukraine to be part of Russia's strategic security border, so for Russia, “Ukraine's membership in NATO is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Koffler added. Ta.
President Joe Biden used his final weeks in office to approve new authorizations for Ukraine in its ongoing war with the country.
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Earlier this month, the Biden administration gave Ukraine new authorization to use long-range weapons supplied by the United States to attack targets inside Russian territory. Later, they also signed the transfer of anti-personnel mines to strengthen the defense of the Ukrainian military in the east.
