Biden may push through Ukraine's NATO bid before end of presidency - Financial Times
Kyiv • UNN
The Financial Times reports on Biden's possible advancement of Ukraine's NATO bid by January. Zelensky did not receive permission for long-range strikes against russia and progress on NATO membership during his visit to the United States.
Joe Biden may advance Ukraine's bid to join NATO before the end of his term as US president, the Financial Times reports. On October 12, Biden will hold a meeting of the heads of states that make up the contact group on Ukraine, reports UNN.
Details
According to the publication, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky left Washington empty-handed on two major issues: US authorization for the use of Western weapons for long-range strikes on Russian territory; and progress on Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO. It has been noted that the Biden administration opposed both options, fearing that it might encourage Muscovy to escalate.
US officials, according to the FT, were unimpressed with Zelensky's “victory plan”, which includes requests for vast quantities of Western weapons. An adviser who helped draft the document says Zelensky had no choice but to reiterate his insistence on NATO membership - anything else would have been seen as a retreat on Western security guarantees.
“Land for membership (in Nato -red.) is the only e only real strategy, and everybody knows it,” says one senior Western official. “Nobody says it out loud ... but it's the only strategy on the table.
Some believe that the model for Ukraine could be the example of West Germany's membership in the Alliance, which lasted more than three decades before the Berlin Wall fell and it reunited with the East. But even that would require a large-scale deployment of forces by the U.S. and its partners. Something any U.S. administration, Democratic or Republican, would likely refuse to do, given Washington's focus on the threat from China.
“I don't think Russia will agree to our participation in NATO,” says a senior Ukrainian official.
Anything short of full membership is unlikely to be enough to stop the Kremlin's military aggression.” “Even if we receive an invitation from NATO, it will mean nothing. This is a political decision,” a senior Ukrainian official adds.
In his last trip to Europe before leaving office, Biden will chair a meeting of Ukraine and its allies in Germany on Oct. 12.
A Western official with knowledge of Zelensky's talks in Washington said there were tentative indications that Biden might agree to advance the status of Ukraine's NATO membership bid before he leaves office in January.
Leaving the U.S. this weekend, Zelensky said October will be “decision time.” The Ukrainian leader will again ask for permission to strike targets on russian territory with Western munitions, realizing that this is one of the few options for ending the fighting.
According to a senior Ukrainian official, “it's about limiting russia's options” and increasing pressure to force it to start negotiations. “This is a real chance if we are thinking about resolving this war.
