The USA, Germany and Hungary oppose attempts by Poland and the Baltic states to offer Ukraine a "road map" to NATO membership at the Alliance's July summit. This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to four participants in the negotiations.
According to the publication, disagreements arose in early April during a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO countries in Brussels. The participants of the meeting tried to agree on what should be offered to Ukraine based on the results of the Alliance summit in July.
Earlier in March, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg submitted a document with "practical and political" proposals for Kyiv, such as a new declaration on Ukraine's relations with NATO that would build on the 2008 announcement that Ukraine would eventually become a member of the organization.
As the FT writes, all NATO member countries agree that Ukraine's membership in the organization cannot be seriously discussed as long as the war continues in the country.
At the same time, two interlocutors of the publication, who were present at the meetings this week, said that there is a growing number of supporters of offering Ukraine a "political path" to NATO membership at the upcoming summit. However, according to these sources, Washington, as well as Berlin and Budapest, are resisting the proposal.
The US believes that the main priority at the summit in Vilnius should be practical assistance to Ukraine, such as the supply of ammunition, and discussions about possible post-war political relations only distract from this goal. In addition, according to the sources, Washington fears that the rapprochement of Ukraine and NATO will lead to an escalation of the conflict on the part of Russia.
The negotiations, as noted by the publication, are taking place against the background of the warnings of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi that he will participate in the summit in Vilnius only if he sees real steps towards Ukraine's membership in NATO, such as the provision of post-war security guarantees or closer cooperation with the Alliance.
Kyiv received an official invitation to the July NATO summit in Vilnius in March.
Ukraine submitted an application for the country's accelerated membership to NATO on September 30, 2022, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russia. According to Politico, this statement came as a surprise to the White House.
As Jens Stoltenberg explained at the time, the application cannot be approved, because Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty provides for the participation of NATO member states in displaying aggression against any of the allies.