US President Joe Biden may agree to change the status of Ukraine’s application for NATO membership before the end of his presidential term in January next year. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing an unnamed Western official, according to Komersant ukrainskyi
On 12 October, a meeting between Ukraine and its allies will be held in Germany under the chairmanship of Biden. This meeting was announced after talks between Presidents Zelenskyy and Biden in the United States.
“A Western official familiar with Zelenskyy’s talks in Washington said there were tentative signs that Biden could agree to move Ukraine into NATO before the end of his term in January,”
– the FT writes.
Membership of the Alliance remains a key goal for Ukraine, but most NATO members believe that this is impossible without a full ceasefire and a clear definition of the territory to which security guarantees will apply. And Biden, while publicly supporting Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance, has so far avoided taking active steps to accelerate this process.
Some experts suggest a membership model similar to that applied to West Germany. Jeremy Shapiro, head of the Washington office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, comments:
“The West German model is increasingly gaining traction, especially in the White House, which has been the most sceptical about Ukraine’s NATO membership.”
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Another senior Western official argues that this model has virtually no alternatives and is on the table.
“Land for NATO membership is the only solution. Everyone knows this. No one will say it out loud, but it is the only strategy.”
In another article, the Financial Times writes that Ukraine’s rhetoric and position has changed significantly recently – Ukrainian representatives are ready to listen and talk about scenarios such as “land for security guarantees,” which was not the case six months ago. As one Western diplomat put it:
“We are talking more and more about what Ukraine will have to give up to get a peace deal. This is different from six months ago, when such talk was taboo for the Ukrainian side.”
An anonymous Ukrainian government official actually confirmed this to the FT journalist:
“The most important thing for us is security guarantees. Real guarantees. Otherwise, this will not end the war, but will only provoke a new one.”
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Ukraine-NATO
Relations between Ukraine and NATO began shortly after Ukraine gained independence in 1991. In 1994, Ukraine joined the Partnership for Peace programme, which was the first step towards cooperation with the Alliance. In 1997, the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between Ukraine and NATO was signed, which defined the main areas of cooperation.
An important milestone was reached at the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit, where it was declared that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of the Alliance in the future, although no specific timeline was set.
After the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 and the outbreak of Russian aggression, cooperation between Ukraine and NATO intensified significantly. Ukraine was granted NATO’s Enhanced Opportunities Partner status in 2020.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 further strengthened cooperation. NATO countries provide Ukraine with significant military, financial and humanitarian assistance. However, despite Ukraine’s aspirations for full membership in the Alliance and NATO’s continued support for Ukraine, the issue of accession remains a subject of debate and diplomatic negotiations.
At the Vilnius Summit in 2023, it was announced that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance without MAP.