Ukraine urges NATO to extend membership invitation amid conflicts
Andrij Sybiha, the head of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has asked NATO members to extend an official invitation for Ukraine to join the Alliance. According to a message shared by Reuters, Sybiha expressed his hope that this invitation would be offered during the upcoming meeting in Brussels, scheduled for next week.
Sybiha emphasized that, in the view of the Ukrainian authorities, "the invitation should be extended now." "This will be an appropriate response by the alliance to the constant escalation of the war initiated by Russia, the latest manifestation of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new types of weapons," the head of diplomacy stated.
"I urge you to support the decision to extend an invitation to Ukraine as one of the results of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting on Dec. 3-4, 2024," Sybiha wrote.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olha Stefanishyna, told Reuters that Ukraine is aware that there is not yet agreement among the allies on inviting Kyiv to NATO, but by sending a letter, the country's authorities sent "a message to the allies that invitation is not off of the table, regardless of different manipulations and speculations around that."
The invitation to NATO is one element of the "victory plan" presented last month by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine accepts that it cannot join the Alliance while the war continues but argues that a formal invitation to NATO would show Vladimir Putin that one of his goals—to prevent Ukraine from joining this organization—is unattainable.
NATO has declared that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance and its path to accession is "irreversible." Still, it has not sent an official invitation to Kyiv or set a timetable.
Diplomats from NATO countries believe there is no consensus on inviting Ukraine. Such a decision would require the agreement of all 32 Alliance countries.
