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Rutte warns that a new NATO member may "emerge" before Ukraine
Ukraine applied to join NATO in the fall of 2022. The bloc has since confirmed its plans to accept the country as a member, but has not specified when. According to Rutte, the decision has already been made in Washington.
In the future, Ukraine will become the 33rd or 34th member of NATO, and this has already been decided, the military bloc's Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
"It turns out that Ukraine will now become the 33rd member state. But perhaps someone else will appear before them. However, Ukraine will become a member of NATO in the future. Ukraine will become a member of NATO in the future, as we decided in Washington. The problem is timing," Rutte said.
As for the "victory plan" presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the NATO secretary general called it a "strong signal" but added: "I cannot say that I support the whole plan." "I think it will be a little bit difficult because there are many questions," he said.
Rutte also said that all 32 NATO members should discuss the plan in detail to better understand it. “We may have different views on some aspects of the plan, but that does not mean that we do not fully support Ukraine,” he said.
Ukraine applied for fast-track membership in NATO in the fall of 2022. Since then, the bloc has repeatedly announced plans to accept the country as a member. Thus, at the unification summit last July, member countries announced Kyiv's "irreversible path" to "full Euro-Atlantic integration," but did not name an exact date.
The alliance emphasizes that the necessary conditions for entry must be met. For example, the United States and Germany argue that Kyiv cannot join NATO while fighting Russia. Ukraine's membership requires the consent of all 32 member states of the bloc.
Russia has repeatedly spoken out against NATO's eastward expansion. President Vladimir Putin has cited plans to include Ukraine in the bloc as one of the reasons for the start of military special operations. In addition, Ukraine's neutral status is one of the conditions for the Russian president to begin peace talks.