The United States and Germany are the countries that are most opposed to Ukraine joining NATO in the short term. Diplomatic sources from the Alliance said this, as the summit celebrating NATO’s 75th anniversary opens in Washington, also in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The sources spoke of “strong opposition” from Berlin and Washington to an invitation to Kiev before it fulfills the necessary preconditions, noting that the summit could end up like the one in Vilnius last year, where, despite pressure, Kiev was not invited in. “The Ukrainians were quite annoyed when they concluded that the door was open, but not that much. And I think the scenario for the Washington summit is the same,” the sources stressed.
Zelensky-Biden, the meeting on Thursday
The topic will most likely be at the center of the bilateral meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will have on Thursday with American President Joe Biden. The face-to-face meeting was anticipated by the White House, which recalls that Thursday’s meeting will be the third between Biden and Zelensky in a month: on June 7 they met on the occasion of the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and the following week at the G7 in Italy, where they signed a security agreement.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington on the first day of the summit.. Blinken and Stoltenberg discussed the important decisions allied leaders will make at the summit, including implementing the largest collective defense reinforcement plan in generations, and endorsing NATO’s commitment to expanding industrial capacity that will improve the allies’ ability to defend themselves from current and future threats.
The two leaders welcomed significant progress on burden-sharing, with more than two-thirds of allies now meeting their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Blinken and Stoltenberg also discussed decisions expected at Thursday’s NATO-Ukraine Council to build a bridge to membership while enabling Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression, now and in the future.
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