NATO must make a political decision that will determine the timetable for Ukraine's accession, whether directly at the Alliance summit in Vilnius this summer or by the end of 2023, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an article for Foreign Policy.
"At the upcoming summit of the Alliance in Vilnius (Lithuania), NATO members should send Russia a written signal that the game is over: Ukraine is part of the West, it is on NATO's doorstep, and will soon enter the door. To avoid misunderstandings, we in Ukraine are not talking about immediate membership at the Vilnius summit, but for NATO allies to take a historic step towards the adoption of the country," Kuleba wrote.
The head of the Foreign Ministry emphasized that there is no need for an action plan for membership, which would establish certain benchmarks that the country must achieve in order to join. And he noted that Finland and Sweden have shown that such programs are not needed, "and Ukraine is more than qualified to join." "It's time to offer clarity instead of repeating the open door policy and allowing Putin to use its ambiguity. NATO should resist the temptation to make additional demands on Ukraine that will further delay its membership," the minister said.
"Instead, NATO should make a political decision to propose a timetable for Ukraine's accession either at the summit in Vilnius or by the end of 2023. Accession will be a process, and achieving the ultimate goal of Ukraine's membership in the Alliance will depend on the security situation, but this process must begin immediately," - emphasized Kuleba.
"It would be wise for NATO members to decide what security guarantees they want to offer Ukraine right now, before joining, and which of these guarantees will continue to apply after Ukraine becomes a NATO ally (in addition to those enshrined in the NATO treaty) ) . However, if NATO fails at the summit in Vilnius, it will continue to bear the shame of Bucharest. It's time to act," the foreign minister concluded.
Kyiv expects that NATO should take a step for Ukraine's membership in the Alliance during the summer summit in Vilnius. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, called Vilnius in 2023 "an opportunity to correct the mistakes of Bucharest in 2008."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyі also noted that Ukraine is waiting for the NATO summit, which could be fateful.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. And all NATO allied countries agreed that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance.
