Despite repeated statements that NATO’s doors remained always open to Ukraine, Thomas Wright, special assistant to the US president, denied that the country could join the alliance as long as it was at war.
As Ukraine is now in the midst of a major war, we will be able to take steps that would strengthen its defense and security here and now, as well as in the next few years.
This is not the first time when, despite the “open door” rhetoric, promises made to Ukraine have not been kept. Even before the outbreak of the war in February 2022, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin visited Europe to assure that NATO’s doors were open to Ukraine and Georgia, according to The Washington Times. The announcement stated:
“Austin will stress in both Georgia and Ukraine that there is an open door to NATO and encourage the nations to make the changes necessary for them to qualify for membership in the defensive alliance.”
At the time, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the US needed “to establish there is a lot in between nothing and full membership.”
Then, a year after the outbreak of the war, in June 2023, as the Ukrainian counter-offensive was gaining momentum, he reiterated in his statement that “NATO’s door is open” for the war-torn country. Stoltenberg then added that Russia did not have “a veto against NATO enlargement.”
In June 2023, US President Joe Biden also reiterated that the alliance’s position was that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, but without any specifics on exactly when that would happen, CNN reported.
The war has intensified pressure on all NATO members to provide Ukraine with some kind of security guarantees in the future, even though disagreements remain over how exactly they might look. At the time, Stoltenberg declared after meeting with Biden at the White House:
At the Vilnius summit, we will send a strong message of support and solidarity with Ukraine. And make clear that Ukraine’s future is in NATO.
However, there was already a debate about NATO membership. In his first year in office, Biden made it clear that many of those concerns would need to be addressed before considering the prospect of Kyiv joining the alliance.
In April 2024, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, as support for the country remained “rock solid” among the member states, according to Reuters.
“Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership.”
The ambiguous and changing stance of the allies is increasingly discouraging Ukraine, fuelling scepticism about the country’s membership.
NATO membership was one of the reasons Russia launched its military operation. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed that the issue of Kyiv’s membership in the alliance instigates Moscow to adopt more decisive measures.
