The United States is resisting attempts by some European allies to offer Ukraine a “road map” for NATO membership at the alliance’s July summit, demonstrating that there are divisions in the West over Kyiv’s post-war status, the Financial Times reports. .

The US, Germany as well as Hungary oppose efforts by countries such as Poland and the Baltic states to offer Kiev closer ties to NATO and clear statements of support for its future membership, four officials involved in the discussions told the FT. . ro.

The differences emerged this week at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, and member state officials will spend the next two months negotiating to break the deadlock ahead of a summit in Vilnius in July.

The talks are taking place as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has warned that he will attend the summit only if he is presented with concrete steps towards his country’s NATO membership, such as post-war security guarantees from NATO members or rapprochement with the alliance.

In 2008, at the summit in Bucharest, NATO agreed that Ukraine would eventually become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, but since then nothing has progressed in this regard. At the time, the U.S. demanded that NATO provide Ukraine with a concrete accession timetable, the so-called Accession Action Plan, but France and Germany rejected the request, fearing that such an approach could provoke Russia.

Ukraine officially applied to join NATO last year after the Russian invasion. So have Finland and Sweden, and Helsinki has already joined NATO earlier this week.

Jens Stoltenberg presented “practical and political” proposals

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, presented a proposal document to member states last month outlining “practical and political” proposals for Kyiv, officials told the Financial Times. This document contained proposals for a new statement on Ukraine’s relations with NATO based on the 2008 statement.

Diplomats involved in this week’s talks say there has been an intense debate between NATO foreign ministers in Brussels about what to offer Ukraine. The allies have shown sharp differences over their terms, in contrast to the overall unity of NATO that has prevailed since Vladimir Putin ordered a large-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, the Financial Times writes.

“We have several weeks of tough negotiations ahead of us to try to narrow these differences and work out some political outcome,” the Western official said. “But yes, there are some significant differences in that sense at the moment,” he added.

However, all 31 members of the alliance agree that joining is not a short-term option and that it cannot be seriously discussed while the war is ongoing.

At the same time, Stoltenberg said at a press conference after the meeting of NATO foreign ministers that the future accession of Ukraine to the transatlantic alliance should be based on the fact that the country is independent and democratic, which is now denied by the invasion of Russia. . So, everything would depend on the duration of the war and especially on its end.

Stoltenberg said Ukrainian forces should have the highest possible level of interoperability with the alliance when the war ends.

The US sees military aid to Ukraine as a priority, not the timetable for joining NATO

But two people present at this week’s meetings said a growing number of countries were backing what Ukraine was offering a “political path” to membership in Vilnius that would “strengthen” ties between NATO and Kyiv. However, according to them, the United States opposes this proposal.

“The road is still very difficult,” said a second Western official.

Instead, the US is urging allies to remain focused on short-term military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine to help it resist and eventually repel Russia’s invasion. Practical support, such as the delivery of ammunition, should be a top priority in Vilnius, US officials said. Talks about possible post-war political relations only distract from this goal, according to Washington.

“To get to the question of when and how to involve Ukraine in the Alliance, we must, as the Secretary General noted, “make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent state,” said a high-ranking US official, cited. from FT.

The short-term solution is the Ukraine-NATO council

One of the options under consideration is the transformation of the current Ukraine-NATO Commission into the Ukraine-NATO Council, which will increase the status of Ukraine as a partner in the Alliance, involving it in NATO meetings and consultations, including information service briefings.

Russia has such a format with NATO, which was suspended after the invasion.

What does Zelensky say

Zelenskyi told NATO leaders that he would attend the summit in Vilnius only if the alliance was ready to move forward with concrete cooperation with Kyiv and was ready to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv instead of Kyiv’s full membership in the military bloc.

“I would like to say to all our partners, who are constantly looking for compromises regarding Ukraine’s path to NATO, that our country will be uncompromising on this issue,” Zelenskyy warned in a speech this week.

What do Eastern Europeans want?

In addition, NATO allies are still debating whether there should be a separate summit statement dedicated to Ukraine, or whether the Ukrainian issue should be mentioned in a broader summit statement.

“The Eastern Europeans, of course, are trying to come up with formulas to start the process” of accession, said a source briefed on the discussion. “They want to involve us in a process that inevitably leads to their desired end state (the accession of Ukraine), while others are hesitant about this,” the source revealed.

A NATO spokesman pointed to Stoltenberg’s public comments made after the Brussels meetings on Wednesday, in which he reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to Ukraine in 2008, writes the FT. But Stoltenberg also noted that the implementation of this obligation depends both on the fact that Ukraine remains a “sovereign and independent state” and on the fact that the country’s armed forces adopt the doctrines and standard practices of NATO. “This transition has begun, but we need more and we must implement it faster,” said the head of NATO.

The Financial Times notes that a spokesman for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information received.