Washington
The US Permanent Representative to NATO, Julianne Smith, said on Tuesday that she does not expect the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) alliance to extend membership invitation to Ukraine at the NATO summit set to held in Washington in July.
While speaking at an online press briefing, Julianne Smith noted that the NATO alliance has been clear that Ukraine’s future is in the NATO alliance. She said allies have made efforts since the Vilnius Summit held in 2023 to move out on a number of steps to continue helping Ukraine with necessary reforms in its country to move closer to Euro-Atlantic integration.
Asked whether NATO will extend to Ukraine an invitation for membership, Smith said, well, I think first and foremost, I would note that last year the Alliance was very clear. Allies explicitly stated that Ukraine’s future is in the NATO Alliance, so we reaffirmed what the Alliance said in 2008, when Allies noted that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance.
And we’ve worked very hard since the Vilnius Summit last year to move out on a number of steps to continue to help our friends in Ukraine with the necessary reforms inside their own country to move closer to Euro-Atlantic integration, both their integration with the European Union and with the NATO Alliance. And we continue to focus, first and foremost, on supporting them in the current fight and ensuring that they can prevail on the battlefield.
