No illusions on Ukraine's membership: Political scientist Mahda on upcoming NATO summit

Yevhen Mahda, executive director of the Institute of World Politics, said this on Espreso TV.

“There are no illusions about this summit. Several NATO members are against Ukraine joining the Alliance — the main one being the U.S. Donald Trump’s stance on the issue hasn’t changed. And we have to decide if we keep spending time and resources trying to convince him, with no guarantees, or if we should focus on other ways to strengthen our relationship with NATO.

We have a strong partnership with NATO, and we need to build on that. This is a challenge for our diplomacy. For a long time, we believed NATO was about to welcome us. Now we see the door is shut,” he emphasized.

Mahda said it’s no surprise European NATO members generally follow the U.S. lead, given Washington has the largest military budget, set to exceed $1 trillion next year.

“Europeans need to deal with boosting defense budgets, and that should be on the agenda in The Hague. But it won’t be easy. More defense spending means cutting back on development and social programs, and not all NATO members are ready for that, especially those far from the front line on the Russian-Ukrainian border,” Mahda added.

• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the promise to bring Ukraine into the Alliance still stands, even if it’s not mentioned at the June 24–25 summit in The Hague.