US sacrifices firm stance on Ukraine in NATO to ensure China's neutrality – international expert

Oleksandr Kraiev, an expert of the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism, said this on Espreso TV. 

"I'm almost certain that Biden personally explained to Zelenskyy on the sidelines the reason for the US's rather passive position on Ukraine's membership in NATO. I hope it was adequate and that the Ukrainian leader understood it. In my opinion, the key explanation for why the United States is behaving this way lies in China," he said.

Kraev added that China is a determining factor for the entire US foreign policy.

"Russia is already perceived by the United States as an unpredictable chaos - it is their main threat. But at the same time, China has been clearly saying since the end of February last year that NATO's expansion to include Ukraine is a threat to global security and that Russia had every right to react as it did," the expert emphasized.

He said that for China, NATO's expansion at the expense of Ukraine and the weakening of Russia is a threat.

"If American diplomacy has managed to achieve at least relative neutrality in China over the past year, China is not providing tactical-level drones, ballistic missiles, and more military aid to Russia, as Russia has requested. This is a success of US diplomacy. In order not to break this balance, this neutrality of China, the Americans have conditionally sacrificed a more decisive position on Ukraine," Kraev concluded.

• On July 12, the second day of the NATO summit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden met in Vilnius.