U.S. President Joe Biden may agree to advance the status of Ukraine's NATO membership bid before leaving office in January, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Oct. 1, citing an unnamed Western official.
The FT's source briefed on President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent trip to the U.S. did not provide further details.
Zelensky presented his five-point victory plan to Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. The plan includes military and diplomatic components, including Ukraine's invitation to join NATO, but the full details of the peace framework have not yet been publicized.
According to the information obtained by the Kyiv Independent, Kyiv had planned to ask for NATO membership within the months, not years.
Biden previously said that peace in Ukraine means a guarantee that Russia will never occupy the country again, but Kyiv's membership in NATO is not necessary for this.
Later in June, Zelensky and the U.S. president signed a security agreement between the two nations, which was described as a "bridge" to Ukraine's future NATO membership. However, the deal did not outline new prospects for Kyiv to join the alliance.
The July NATO summit in Washington ended with the launch of the Ukraine Compact, a security framework signed by 32 allies.
The countries affirmed Kyiv's "irreversible" path toward membership, though Ukraine did not receive any definitive news about its future accession.
According to Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on partners to issue a membership invitation to Kyiv, Ukraine will join NATO only after Russia's full-scale war ends.
Olivier Dupuis
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