White House comments on possibility of inviting Ukraine to NATO

White House official said this at a press briefing.

According to the official, there is an active discussion of the various elements of the victory plan outlined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He had a conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden when he presented the plan a few weeks ago, and then during their phone conversation. A representative of the U.S. presidential administration said that there are certain elements that are being implemented now to provide additional military capabilities, which is also an element of the plan.

“There’s a discussion amongst NATO Allies about an invitation.  There is not consensus at this time to offer Ukraine an invitation.  But as you know, at the NATO Summit just, what, a couple months ago — in July, mid-July — all 32 Allies affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership.  So the question is about the tactics of how to encourage that path and how to gain consensus on the next steps,” he said.

Regarding the other elements of the plan, the official commented that some of them are obviously long-term things that Ukraine would like to see happen over many years, and others are more short-term, especially in terms of some of the military capabilities that Ukraine wants to secure now. According to the representative of the U.S. presidential administration, some of these things are actually being actively pursued.

“We want to — the bottom line for the United States and for President Biden is that we want to put Ukraine in a position of strength.  We want it to prevail in this war.  And we need to give it the capabilities that it needs to do that.  But we cannot do that alone.  We need to do that with our partners and allies, which is why President Biden had called for a Ramstein Summit, or a leaders-level meeting of what is called formally the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. And we have postponed that,” the official said, adding that the meeting is likely to take place in November.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that inviting Ukraine to join NATO is a preventive step that will show that it is not Russian leader Vladimir Putin who is changing the course of the world, but the whole world is ready to change the aggressor.