NATO allies may be ready to remove some hurdles on Ukraine’s path to the military alliance, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on June 16, as cited by the Guardian.
“There are increasing signs that everyone will be able to agree on this,” Pistorius told reporters in Brussels when asked about reports that the US is open to permitting Kyiv to forgo a formal candidacy process required of some other nations in the past. “I would be open for this."
On June 15, the European Parliament approved a resolution calling on NATO to accept Ukraine into the alliance when the war is over.
Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022, half a year into the full-scale Russian invasion.
According to the Washington Post, there is so far no consensus on Ukraine’s NATO membership. While the Baltic nations and the Czech Republic want to speed up Ukraine's accession, big players like France, Germany, and the U.S. are hesitant.
However, U.S. President Joe Biden has supported NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's statement that Ukraine does not need to implement a "membership action plan" to join NATO.
Dinara Khalilova
(Updated: )
