Despite Ukraine's desire to quickly join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), member states of this military alliance still have different views.
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| When Ukraine will join NATO remains an open question. (Source: Youtube) |
On June 1, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that NATO is open to new members, but the alliance cannot admit a country in conflict.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Given the current situation, the issue is not about establishing membership... We must all focus on how we, as individuals, can still support Ukraine.”
Answering a question about what security guarantees might be provided to Ukraine, Scholz pointed out that the process of providing security guarantees “takes time” and noted that “guarantees” given to Kiev on future security “should be as effective as possible.”
According to him, security guarantees must be given in a way "that would provide Kiev with the necessary security from the threat of attack, while also stabilizing Ukraine... and of course it must be implemented seriously".
However, the German leader noted that any future Western security guarantees for Ukraine would need to be different from NATO membership in Europe.
Also on June 1, at the informal NATO Foreign Ministers' Conference in Oslo (Norway), Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest considered training the Ukrainian army under the auspices of the military alliance unacceptable because the alliance must avoid direct confrontation with Russia.
Regarding whether the issue of Ukraine's admission should be included in the agenda of the NATO Summit taking place in Vilnius (Lithuania) in July, Mr. Szijjarto said that the accession of a country in conflict to the alliance cannot appear on the summit's agenda.
However, at the conference, many countries still urged NATO to provide a clear roadmap for Ukraine's admission, such as Estonia, France and Spain.
NATO has so far not approved Ukraine's request to join the military alliance soon because some member states are wary of moves that they fear could bring the bloc closer to a conflict with Russia.
Ukraine is expected to send a "clear message" at the NATO summit in July that Kiev will join the military alliance after the conflict with Russia ends.
Ukraine has admitted it will not join NATO while there is conflict on its territory, but wants the military alliance to go beyond its 2008 pledge to admit Kiev at some point.
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