At least seven NATO member states are against the alliance extending an immediate membership invitation to Ukraine for fears of getting “ensnared in a war with Russia”, Politico reported on Wednesday.
Citing four US and NATO officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Politico said that the US and Germany were among the “major powers slow-walking” Kyiv’s ongoing calls for Ukraine to be invited to the alliance, with Belgium, Slovenia and Spain “hiding behind” US and German opposition.
Hungary and Slovakia, both known for their pro-Kremlin sympathies and reluctance to support Kyiv, were the other countries resisting an invitation for Ukraine, Politico said.
According to one of the officials, a number of NATO countries support inviting Ukraine to the alliance “in the abstract” but become hesitant when the prospect begins to materialise. Despite this, all those who spoke to Politico stressed that neither the US nor Germany was ruling out Ukraine’s “eventual accession” to the alliance.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Germany had softened its opposition to Ukraine being invited to join NATO, but remained “sceptical” and wary of a reaction from Moscow.
Ukraine formally applied to join NATO on 30 September 2022, just hours after Russia declared the annexation of four regions of eastern Ukraine.
While a joint declaration issued by the alliance in July formally declared Ukraine’s path to NATO “irreversible” and securing membership is a key point in Zelensky’s “victory plan” to end the war, Kyiv has grown increasingly frustrated at Western unwillingness to extend an invitation to Ukraine, with Zelensky touting a restoration of the country’s nuclear capability as an alternative in a speech to EU leaders in Brussels last week.
“Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will serve as protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we do not know of such an effective alliance”, Zelensky said.