Ukrainian FM calls for step towards NATO membership

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the importance of taking a step towards Ukraine's membership in the Alliance.

The conversation was held through a phone call on the eve of the summit in Vilnius, Caliber.Az reports, citing Kuleba’s Twitter post.

"I spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and thanked him for his efforts to make Vilnius summit a success for NATO and Ukraine. I also stressed the importance of taking a step toward Ukraine’s membership, in particular by dropping MAP. It’s time to align NATO decisions with the new reality,”  he wrote.

Ukraine’s ambitions of joining NATO predate both Russia’s invasion last year and its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The group agreed in 2008 to allow for eventual membership – a so-called “open door policy” – yet governance issues, including persistent corruption, have prevented it from joining the alliance.

Russian-Ukrainian war the following February provided a dramatic illustration of Ukraine’s security fears and prompted Zelenskyy to renew his calls for full membership in NATO.

It also helped make Ukraine one of the most heavily armed countries in Europe, with systems and equipment drawn mostly from NATO nations, furthering an argument for membership within the alliance.

Yet full membership for Ukraine comes with significant complications. Under the organisation’s Article 5 commitments, an attack on one member is an attack against all, committing the entire bloc to a collective military response. And while Biden has provided tens of billions of dollars in ever-more-advanced military equipment, he has remained firmly opposed to sending American troops into the country into direct conflict with Russia.