US Ambassador explains Biden's words about peace in Ukraine and NATO membership

The U.S. position on Ukraine's membership in NATO has not changed, and Washington remains committed to helping Ukraine build a bridge to membership in the Alliance and to helping cross that bridge when the time comes. This was stated by US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith, commenting on the recent statement by US President Joe Biden, UNN reports.

Context

Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview with TIME that he believes that peace means that Russia will never be able to occupy the territories of Ukraine, and he believes that Ukraine does not need to be a part of NATO for this.

What the US Ambassador to NATO said

"Well, the President’s position on this has been quite clear. He acknowledges, as do all NATO Allies, that the Alliance committed to welcoming Ukraine into the Alliance in 2018 when Allies said Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance. That was reaffirmed at the Vilnius Summit last year when Allies stated that Ukraine’s future is in NATO. I think you’ll see similar language this year at the NATO summit, agreed by all 32 Allies, another paragraph or two on Ukraine and its membership aspirations. So, there has not been a change at NATO. There has not been a change in the United States," the ambassador said when asked how to read Biden's statement.

"I do believe what the President was referencing in that particular interview, though, was the fact that we, the United States, believe that the Ukrainians still have some work to do on meeting the criteria and implementing the reforms that are required for NATO membership. The Ukrainians have made major strides forward in implementing a whole series of reforms tied to things like transparency and accountability and also anti-corruption. We salute those efforts," Smith added.

According to her, in Brussels in April, there was new information from Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on this issue. "We applauded everything Ukraine has been doing of late, particularly in light of the fact that Ukraine is in the middle of a full-fledged war. So those efforts are admirable, and again, we applaud those efforts," she said.

"That said, I know that NATO Allies are working closely with the Ukrainians, either bilaterally or through the NATO Alliance, to help them make continued progress. So, the goal remains the same. The commitment remains the same. And that is why at the summit you will hear us talking a lot about building a bridge to membership for our friends in Ukraine. That bridge, as Secretary Blinken has noted many times, will be well lit and hopefully built of steel, and we’ll do everything we can to help them cross that bridge when the timing is right," the U.S. Ambassador to NATO concluded.