NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg confirmed their intentions of welcoming Ukraine after the war with Russia. The feasibility of this move remains to be seen.
The NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania is giving increasingly more signs that the West will not withdraw support from Ukraine any time soon. Indeed, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg went as far as to say that Ukraine will join the alliance as soon as conditions allow it.
This, of course, means that Ukraine will not join NATO as long as it is at war with Russia. At this moment, not even Ukraine’s future borders are clear, so talks of joining NATO would simply be fruitless.
In any case, Stoltenberg reminded that Russia does not have a veto on who decides to join NATO. If a country willingly decides to join the alliance, its “doors are open,” said former Norway minister.
So far, Vladimir Putin seems to have favored NATO rather than opposed it. Since its invasion of Ukraine back in February, two historically neutral countries decided to enter the alliance. The Baltic states of Sweden and Finland are supposed to become full members of NATO by 2023, once negotiations with Turkey come to an end.
And even the small country of Georgia, located in the highest mountains of Europe on the Caucasus, is willing to join NATO. Georgia too was invaded by Russia back in 2008 and still has disputed borders with the Eastern giant.
While Sweden and Finland should join NATO hastily, Georgia suffers the same problem as Ukraine. As long as they’ll have border disputes and Russian troops within the nation, its entrance in NATO will be tampered.
When will Ukraine join NATO
It is not unlikely that peace will mean an outright entrance of Ukraine. First, however, it must be seen what kind of peace it is.
With Georgia, for example, peace with Russia looked more like an armistice, as Moscow still occupies parts of the country. Will Crimea, the peninsula invaded by Russia in 2014, return to Ukraine? Will Russia renounce its claims on Kyiv? Will Putin concede defeat?
These are important questions to ask: nobody wants Ukraine to join NATO while they are still at war with Russia.
In any case, Stoltenberg’s declaration signals the West’s full support to Ukraine. If NATO wants to open doors for Kyiv, it means they are willing to help them in any way to kick Russia out.
Indeed, the West keeps committing millions in weapons and supplies to Ukraine every day. At the moment, no major offensive is taking place on the front as both sides paused for the winter.
The war, however, will resume shortly. And it remains to be seen how well Ukraine will do this time.
