Why is Zelenesky adamant to join NATO? Ukraine has applied for a fast-tracked EU membership and now Zelensky has submitted a Fastrack NATO membership.
The United States and NATO have continued to support Ukraine, all be it from an arm’s length, until this point, but it has always been reluctant to encourage its membership.
Ukraine has submitted an official application to join NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after Moscow annexed four Ukrainian regions earlier on Friday.
“We are de facto allies already,” Zelenskyy said. “De facto, we have already proven compatibility with Alliance standards.”
“Ukraine is applying to confirm it de jure by an expedited procedure,” he stated.
President Zelensky of Ukraine
NATO did not respond to questions about what Ukraine’s “accelerated” application to join the alliance would mean.
On Friday US national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Ukrainian efforts to join NATO should be taken up “at a different time,” throwing cold water on the country’s desire to join the international alliance.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to explicitly endorse it but said she supports a “security guarantee” for Kyiv.
“We are very committed to democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi said. “Let’s win this war. But I would be for them having a security guarantee.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Why is Zelenesky adamant to join NATO?
Ukraine is already considered an “aspirant country” for membership in the world’s biggest security alliance, along with Georgia. All 30 NATO allies would have to agree for the country to join NATO, most of which have classified Ukraine as the most corrupt country in Europe.
Some analysts are suggesting that Zeleneksy has no choice but to apply for membership, to save face within his own public, to sue a silver lining in a very dark cloud. Where despite the valiant efforts of the Ukrainians, they lost significant territory to the Russian.
It is also a political move, a way for the NATO and EU members to force action from them whilst the war is going on.
President Zelensky knows that he is unlikely to get NATO membership before the war is over, but if he can get the country on the road to full membership, that will represent a huge victory for the Ukrainian people.
How will NATO deny Ukraine membership?
NATO is wary of allowing any country to join the alliance, especially because of Article 5 if any country attacks NATO, the others need to respond as if the attack was carried out on their own country.
So, how will NATO deny Ukraine membership? without pushing them away, because NATO cannot afford a full-blown rivalry with Russia, which in this case is inevitable.
This becomes more challenging when its borders and territory are not clearly defined. This is particularly relevant to Ukraine, because of its border with Russia.
NATO allies especially the US, UK, France and Germany, are clear about the Minx agreement with Russia and know what this ‘provocation’ would mean for global consequences.
NATO’s Article 5 defence clause – the pledge that all allies must come to the aid of any ally whose territory is under threat – would be compromised in the case of Ukraine, as it is unclear what parts of the country would join.
Additionally, if Ukraine was to go into the ‘Russian-claimed territories’ it could spark a further conflict of all-out war, in which case Putin has already warned, that the retaliation from Russia would be full-blooded.
President Joe Biden reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the country’s membership in the alliance was in its own hands prior to the conflict. But many believe this was just lip service.
Joining NATO is harder than you think
To join NATO would also mean a united consensus from all 30 members, which does seem unlikely.
Some allies of former President Donald Trump have even sought to convince Ukraine to commit to not joining NATO as a way to placate Vladimir Putin, even though the U.S. believed that the Russian leader was going to invade Ukraine anyway and was simply looking for a pretext.
Meanwhile, Finland and Sweden—the former of which borders Russia—have been inching closer to finalizing their bids to join NATO. On Friday, Sweden announced it would be lifting a ban on exporting military equipment to Turkey after the country previously objected to its membership bid at the start of the year.
If Zelensky was going to get NATO membership when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office Wednesday, pressing him on NATO membership but walking away with no firm answer.
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