The joint letter says that Kyiv should receive a roadmap for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as soon as possible.
Dozens of Western diplomats, military and experts agree that Ukraine should become a member of NATO in the very near future.
Former Deputy Head of the State Department Stephen Biegen, former US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and 44 other authoritative political and military figures of the West on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius signed a joint letter in which they noted that Kiev should join the military-political bloc without fulfilling MAP, transmits Politico.
The appeal says that the participants of the meeting in the capital of Lithuania need to launch a road map that will clearly pave the way for Ukraine to NATO. According to the authors of the letter, the membership of the Ukrainian state in the Alliance must be ensured as soon as possible. As in the case of Sweden and Finland, this process may bypass the MAP, given Kyiv’s close cooperation with the Bloc.
If Ukraine continues to remain in the “gray zone of uncertainty”, this will provoke aggression from the Kremlin, which has not abandoned plans to establish control over the Ukrainian state, the authors of the letter noted.
They also called for assistance to help Ukraine win the war and reach its internationally recognized borders. The security of the transatlantic community can only be ensured if Ukraine is secure. In particular, the authors of the appeal insist on the need to provide the Ukrainian army with long-range ATACMS missiles and Western fighters.
Prior to Ukraine’s accession to NATO, the allies must ensure a partnership in which the Ukrainian side will receive all the necessary weapons and other assistance, the letter says.
In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reminded on Wednesday, which is a week before the NATO summit. According to the head of state, the Ukrainian leadership is now working hard to ensure that common security wins at the meeting in Vilnius.
Earlier, the leaders of Lithuania and Italy said that Ukraine at the summit “will receive a lot, but not everything, that it counts on.” The allies are in favor of providing Kyiv with real security guarantees, but there is no talk of an invitation to the Alliance yet.
Prior to this, Volodymyr Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to invite Ukraine to NATO now, despite the fact that the country can join the Alliance only after the war.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR!
Author: Artem Malinovsky
2023-07-05 18:01:23
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