Kuleba calls on Germany not to block Ukraine's accession to NATO
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on German politicians not to hinder the NATO membership process for Ukraine, German newspaper Bild wrote on June 30.
"Do not repeat the mistake Chancellor Merkel made in Bucharest in 2008 when she fiercely opposed any progress towards Ukraine’s NATO membership," Kuleba said in an interview with Bild.
This lack of determination from Merkel "opened the door for Putin to invade Georgia... and then eventually illegally annexing Crimea," the minister said.
If Ukraine isn’t accepted into NATO following the end of the full-scale invasion, "it will be suicidal for Europe,” Kuleba claimed, though noted that NATO can end the threat of Russian aggression against Europe by making Ukraine a NATO member.
"We'll take that burden on our shoulders," Kuleba said.
Ukraine's accession to NATO: What we know
Ukraine applied for NATO membership last September. Several NATO members immediately supported this move, while others were rather hesitant about it.
A NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius is scheduled for July 11-12. Ukraine expects for a clear sign of NATO's readiness to take it in.
However, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO's door remains open for Ukraine, no official invitation should be expected yet.
In June, U.S. political news outlet Politico reported that Ukraine's partner nations are "still divided over nearly every element of how to respond to the request" for the security guarantees Ukraine requires following the end of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Western countries may propose a security model akin to that enjoyed by Israel, prior to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, The Wall Street Journal wrote. This would expedite the transfer of advanced weapons and technology to Kyiv and act as a stepping stone towards eventual membership.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that he sees no reason to attend the Vilnius summit if Ukraine’s NATO membership is not on the table.
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