WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Saturday that the U.S. does not support a fast-tracked process for Ukraine to join NATO at the conclusion of the war.
Ukraine would need to meet certain criteria for NATO membership, Biden said, raising concerns about corruption in the country.
“I think it will. I think it can, but it’s not automatic,” Biden told reporters as he prepared to leave for Philadelphia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants NATO member nations to commit to accepting Ukraine into the alliance when there is a resolution to the current conflict.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with USA TODAY last week, said members agree that Ukraine will eventually be invited to become a member but consultations are still taking place.
Stoltenberg said that Ukraine, which is engaged in a counteroffensive against Russia, must first win the war. “Because unless they do that, there’s no membership issue to discuss at all.” He said that at an upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, he expects NATO nations to make “new decisions on concrete support” for Ukraine over the long term.
In an interview on Thursday, Zelenskyy issued a warning to American politicians and 2024 presidential candidates who have expressed skepticism about supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“If Ukraine would lose, if Russia would occupy Ukraine, Russia will continue going toward Baltic countries, Poland, etcetera,” Zelenskyy told NBC News. “They will start war with one of the NATO countries and at this moment the United States will have to choose the collapse of NATO or go to war.”
Following a meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense in Brussels on Friday, Stoltenberg said the allies are working to establish a “new NATO-Ukraine Council,” where Ukraine will be given equal standing with NATO countries.
The formation of a new council, however, falls short of the commitments sought by Zelenskyy from NATO leaders ahead of the military alliance’s summit in Lithuania next month.
Biden said Saturday that Ukraine has demonstrated it can coordinate with NATO nations militarily but there are other issues the country would need to be resolved to be accepted into the alliance.
“They’ve got to meet the same standards. So I’m not going to make it easier,” Biden said.
