The desire to receive an official invitation to NATO tops President Volodymyr Zelensky's victory plan. While acknowledging that membership itself is a matter for after the war, Zelensky urged allies to send an invitation before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves office in January. The president also said that Ukraine
Speaking to German public broadcaster ZDF on Oct. 24, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Kyiv's appeals for an immediate invitation to join NATO, stating that "a country at war absolutely cannot become a member of NATO."
"We agreed with the Chancellor that today the issue of Ukraine's accession is not on the table, and it cannot come to the table," Pellegrini said.
Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain are among the countries that are reluctant to grant Ukraine an invitation to join NATO, Politico reported on Oct. 23, citing anonymous officials.
Talking to journalists, Zelensky did not rule out that "some partners" may think about Ukraine's membership in NATO in exchange for the occupied territories. "We are not discussing this," he said.
For Zygimantas Pavilionis, a member of the Lithuanian parliament, history is repeating itself: The Kremlin’s military sights are set on Europe beyond Ukraine and the U.S. is not listening to warnings from the Baltics. “In Europe, they listen to the Baltics, but in America, they are so arrogant
The launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 confronted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with a new geopolitical reality. Described as "braindead" by French President Emmanuel Macron only a few years prior, the alliance woke up to a threat previously thought consigned to the past: a
"North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine would mark a significant escalation," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on social media following a conversation with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Defense ministers of the G7 countries reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine's integration into NATO, according to the joint statement following their meeting in Naples on Oct. 19.
"U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Michael R. Turner appealed to President Joseph Biden on Oct. 18 to respond immediately to reports of North Korea's troops preparing to join Russia's army fighting in Ukraine.
"We never spoke about...that we are preparing to create nuclear weapons or something like this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The White House has rescheduled a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group for November in a virtual setting after U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled his foreign trips earlier this month to handle the consequences of repeated hurricanes at home.
"We are not at the stage where the Alliance is discussing issuing an invitation in the short term," Smith said ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, Voice of America reported.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the next meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council is scheduled for Oct. 17. The meeting will bring together defense ministers from NATO member states alongside Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
"The message (to Russian President Vladimir Putin) is that we will continue, that we will do what's necessary to make sure that he will not get his way, that Ukraine will prevail," Mark Rutte said during a joint interview with Reuters and German radio Hessischer Rundfunk on Oct. 13.
Moscow's ultimate goals are to "push the U.S. out of Europe," roll back NATO boundaries to the 1990s, and create a "Russian sphere of influence" that will cement a "new world order," said German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl.
The two-week drills will involve over 2,000 military personnel and 60 aircraft from eight airbases. They will take place in Belgium, the Netherlands, and in the airspace over Denmark, the U.K., and the North Sea, with 13 NATO countries sending aircraft to participate.
"It's time to now craft a new strategy in terms of (the allies') specific positions," a senior U.S. official said. Defense ministers from NATO member nations will convene in Brussels Oct. 17-18 to discuss the matter.
Lithuania announced this week it had blocked and fortified a bridge over the Nieman River linking it to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the latest in a series of escalations in the Baltic Sea region. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine exacerbated fears of a potential open conflict between Moscow and
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance might consider himself a genius for proposing “neutrality” for Ukraine as the centerpiece of his plan to end Russia’s war. For Vance, this appears to be a true eureka moment. Unfortunately, the concept of neutral status for Ukraine is not new. Vance
Zelensky's visit will include talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and is part of a broader European tour, which began on Oct. 9 with a visit to Croatia.
German and British think tanks urged decision-makers to set up a "NATO bank" to "Trump-proof" the alliance's military spending in a report published on Oct. 9 and seen by The Guardian.
"If we had delivered a fraction of the weapons we have delivered after 2022, we may have actually prevented the war," former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Lithuania's Defense Minsiter Laurynas said other bridges leading to Kaliningrad would also be fortified, and some may even be mined.
The talks will focus on achieving peace, Ukraine’s path to NATO and the EU, as well as the reconstruction of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 9.
Finland joined NATO early 2023 after ditching its longstanding neutral stance following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
NATO's new Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Oct. 8 that Ukraine may be facing its most challenging winter since the start of the full-scale invasion, as the country prepares for more Russian attacks against energy infrastructure.
Ukraine is seeking membership in the NATO military alliance as a part of its plan to end Russia’s war, and recent reports suggest a West Germany model is seriously being discussed among Kyiv and its allies. During a September visit to the U.S., Head of the Presidential Office
Washington will address Ukraine's possible entry into NATO "if and when it arrives at that point," Vice President Kamala Harris said regarding her future policies if elected president in an interview aired on Oct. 7.
Sitting at Kyiv's main train station moments before wrapping up his trip to Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans had a lot to discuss. Brekelmans has just announced that the first batch of Dutch F-16s are flying Ukrainian skies, defending the country from Russian air strikes. He also announced that
NATO accused North Korea and Iran of "fueling" the war in Ukraine by giving missiles, shells, and drones to Russia in a statement issued last week.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's visit to Ukraine comes shortly after his comments that as long as he is the prime minister, he will block Kyiv's entry into NATO.
