At least seven NATO members reject Ukraine’s membership bid – Politico

The United States and Germany have been the most outspoken opponents of Ukraine's bid for NATO membership during its war with Russia. Nonetheless, they are not the only countries that share this stance.

Politico reported on this, citing unnamed officials from the Alliance who spoke to the publication anonymously.

It is noted that Washington and Berlin oppose Ukraine's accession to NATO because they fear this will involve the Alliance in a war with the Russian Federation.

And the US ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, emphasized again that currently, no one will invite Ukraine to join this bloc.

However, the USA and Germany are not the only opponents. In particular, Hungary and Slovakia are also quite active in resisting Ukraine's accession to NATO.

Thus, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, stated:

"Kyiv's invitation to the Alliance will be a good basis for the Third World War."

According to Politico, the group also consists of countries hesitant about Ukraine joining NATO and "hiding in the shadows". This group includes:

• Belgium,
• Slovenia,
• and Spain.

"Such states support this idea [Ukraine's entry into NATO — ed.] in the abstract, but as soon as it gets closer to materialization, they will begin to oppose it more publicly," one of the officials in the Alliance said.

At the same time, officials who spoke to Politico sought to emphasize that neither the US nor Germany rules out Ukraine's possible accession to the Alliance.

For reference:

On September 30, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.

Already in 2023, a summit of NATO countries was held in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, one of the main topics of which was Ukraine. In the final communiqué of the summit, published on the Alliance's website, the heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Alliance recognized Ukraine's progress on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration. They confirmed that Ukraine's future lies with NATO.

Additionally, 287 NATO standards have already been implemented in the Ukrainian Security and Defense Forces. By the end of 2023, approximately 200 more North Atlantic Alliance standards were planned to be implemented.

Moreover, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said the USA and Germany oppose Ukraine's official invitation to NATO.

On October 18, 2024, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced that there is currently no consensus among NATO members to extend an invitation to Ukraine. The discussion is ongoing. At the same time, the United States wants to achieve "the same urgency and contribution" from other partners regarding aid to Ukraine as the United States.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Ukraine will eventually become the Alliance's 33rd or 34th member.