War in Ukraine: Kyiv should not receive an invitation to join NATO in July

“I do not expect the Atlantic Alliance to invite” Ukraine to the next North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, to be held July 9-11 in Washington, American Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said Tuesday. She said this at a briefing ahead of a meeting of Alliance defense ministers on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels.

She said the July summit in Washington should signal that “the alliance continues to move closer to Ukraine” and is taking “concrete measures” to promote future membership of the country, which is currently at war with Russia.

Membership is not possible during conflict

During last year’s summit in Vilnius, NATO countries confirmed that Ukraine intended to join, but did not set a timetable. Then Vladimir Zelensky condemned the reluctance of the Alliance member countries to discuss the date, considering the “indecisiveness” as a “weakness.”

“We have worked very hard since last year’s Vilnius Summit to develop a specific set of measures to continue to help our friends in Ukraine with the necessary reforms” ahead of their future integration into the Atlantic Alliance, the American ambassador emphasized.

All NATO member countries recognize that Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance is impossible while the war lasts. In fact, this would be synonymous with conflict with Russia, since Article 5 of the Alliance provides that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.