Ambassador: NATO summit should offer Ukraine membership commitment

Ukraine's Ambassador to the North Atlantic Alliance Natalia Galibarenko believes that the Vilnius NATO summit should offer a certain commitment or guarantee of future membership to Kyiv.

She said this in an interview with Politico.

According to Galibarenko, Ukraine wants to "receive some kind of invitation or at least a commitment... to consider the timeframe and modalities of our membership" in NATO at the Alliance summit.

The ambassador acknowledged that for many NATO member states, any such commitment "is a red line... because they feel it creates a burden for them." "I can understand that view - I cannot support it," she added.

The diplomat emphasized that Ukraine understands the impossibility of joining NATO during the war and therefore does not raise the issue of membership, but the Vilnius Summit of the Alliance could fix a commitment to grant membership, for example, after the end of the war with Russia.

Galibarenko noted that the absence of an invitation to join the Alliance at the summit would send a bad signal.

"(But. - Ed.) If there is no invitation in Vilnius, it is not the end of the world. Not today, but maybe tomorrow, next year in Washington, who knows?" she added.

Author - Olena Madiak, 20/06/2023