Germany to block Ukraine's accession to NATO

The Telegraph writes about this, citing its own sources.

It is noted that Germany will call on the allies to focus on security guarantees for our country, rather than on proposals for Ukraine's accession to NATO, at the summit in Vilnius next week.

"Berlin is cautious about the prospect of immediate membership. Germany needs time to develop guarantees and, in fact, to block membership. Berlin does not want Vladimir Putin to potentially test Article 5," the anonymous source said.

According to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, any member state attacked by an external aggressor has the right to request military intervention from the rest of the allies.

It is noted that a similar position was expressed by US President Joe Biden, who said he wanted to avoid a situation where "everyone goes to war with Russia". He also added that Ukraine was "not ready" for NATO membership and that it would "take some time".

The US president said that Ukraine should be given a "rational path" to meet the requirements for membership, including "democratisation and a whole host of other issues".

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the country "does not want to start World War III".

"Ukraine will not join NATO after this summit," Sullivan said.

Reference:

In September 2022, Ukraine applied to join NATO under an accelerated procedure. Ukraine's accession to NATO has already been officially supported by 22 Allies.

In order to become a member of the Alliance, Ukraine needs to go through several stages: invitation, approval, fulfilment of requirements and reform of its armed forces in accordance with NATO standards, approval and ratification by the parliaments of all NATO member states, and then accession itself.

Following Finland's accession to NATO this year, the Alliance now has 31 members. Sweden is most likely to become the 32nd member of the military and political bloc. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that Ukraine could and should become the 33rd member of NATO.