Ukraine won’t join NATO anytime soon as U.S. rejects proposal — Scholz

He made this statement during a debate with the country's chancellor candidate, Friedrich Merz. 

According to Scholz, Ukraine will not become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance in the near future because "the U.S. rejected this proposal." 

"Ukraine should join NATO, but it cannot do so yet because NATO does not accept countries at war," he said.

Merz, for his part, agreed that Ukraine cannot join NATO because the Alliance "does not accept members who are at war." However, he believes that granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate was "the right decision."

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers the discussion of sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine “inappropriate and premature” because it means, as Europeans expect, that Kyiv will lose the occupied territories.