What exactly NATO’s leaders are going to say about Ukraine’s future membership in NATO reportedly remains unsettled, as if the future were to be set by semantics and not the actual historical processes that are underway. According to a CNN report, U.S. and German officials want to offer Ukraine “a bridge” to NATO membership rather than an “irreversible path,” as Stoltenberg has said. Stoltenberg’s language is reported to be favored by the U.K. and some Eastern European members of the Alliance.
But White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby set the bar pretty high for Ukrainian membership in NATO on June 17. “First they gotta win this war,” he said, reported the Kyiv Post. He claimed that the U.S. is doing everything possible to ensure that Ukrainians achieve victory, and will support them “every step of the way.” He cited a bilateral security agreement signed by Biden at the G7 summit—joining the efforts of over a dozen other countries to support Ukraine’s long-term defense capabilities.
