U.S. President Joe Biden may agree to upgrade Ukraine’s application for NATO membership before he leaves office in January, Babel reports.
This was reported to the Financial Times by a Western official informed about the talks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington.
The media outlet noted that during what may be his last trip to Europe before leaving office, Biden will chair a meeting between Ukraine and its allies in Germany on October 12.
A Western official briefed on Zelenskyy’s talks in Washington said there were preliminary indications that Biden may agree to upgrade the status of Ukraine’s NATO membership application before he leaves office in January, – the FT writes.
The publication also emphasized that NATO membership is still a key goal for Ukraine. But very few of the 32 members of the Alliance believe that this is possible without a full, lasting ceasefire and a clear line on the map that would define which part of Ukraine’s territory is covered by the Alliance’s mutual defense clause.
Some have suggested a model of West Germany’s membership in the Alliance, which lasted for more than three decades before the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification with the east.
The West German model is gaining momentum, especially in the White House, which has been the most skeptical about NATO membership. The Russians won’t like it, but at least it could be a kind of initial gambit for compromise, – said Jeremy Shapiro, head of the Washington office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
But even that would require the deployment of significant forces by the United States and its partners, which any American administration, Democratic or Republican, would likely not agree to.
