The Trump administration was shocked last week on both sides of the Atlantic Claim Ukraine’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership is not a “realistic outcome of negotiated reconciliation” for war. European countries said they are still committed to what they have NATO’s Ukraine. Chief diplomat of the European Union Kaha Kalas I said it today There should be no agreement on Ukraine, which does not exist. ”
Former US security adviser John Bolton even claimed that President Donald Trump had it.”It effectively surrendered“At Russia’s demands. If so, it’s a surrender reportedly made by former President Joe Biden before the war began. While publicly advocating NATO.”Open door“Policy and Refusing to negotiate Russia on the issue, Biden personally told Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelensky in 2021 that Ukraine would not join the alliance, Zelensky revealed on Friday.
“My first call with President Biden and my first question, are we at NATO? He said, no, no. I said See him at the Munich Security Conference held in Germany last week. First conversation Together with Biden in April 2021. “But, to be very honest, they never saw us at NATO. They talked about it. But they really didn’t want us at NATO. That’s true.”
Biden himself I told CNN In 2023, NATO has no unanimity with NATO on whether to bring Ukraine to the NATO family at this moment in the midst of war. German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz I said something similar But last year. ) However, in an interview with CNN, Biden said, “There must be a reasonable pathway for Ukraine to qualify to enter NATO,” and Russia’s demands are based on the principles of open door policy said it refused to close the
On Zelenskyy’s account, the door was not actually open. And Biden was sticking to NATO’s right to do something it never intended to. That approach could have been the worst in both worlds. The Russian government was convinced that NATO intended Ukraine as a weapon against Russia, but that the Ukrainians themselves were left in Limbo. In fact, there are no invitations for Ukraine to join the alliance now. Incentives given to Russia Attack as quickly as possible and drag the war out as long as possible.
“I’ve heard that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO. I know that. At the same time, they say they don’t intend to join tomorrow,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He told reporters A week before the invasion. “But by the time they prepare for it, it may be too late for us. So we have to decide on this question now, now, in the very near future.”
At the time, the Biden administration argued that there was no need to negotiate NATO membership because it had nothing to do with Russia’s security.
“We have made it clear to the Russians that they were willing to tell them about issues they thought were a real concern that they were somehow legal. April 2022 InterviewTwo months after the invasion began. He argued that the war “is not about NATO” and that “NATO is not a threat to Russia.”
Officials on both sides of the Atlantic later confirmed that NATO Ukraine was a Putin problem. Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence He told Congress In May 2023, Russia’s “immediate ambition” said “secure Ukraine not becoming an NATO ally.” NATO Executive Director Jens Stoltenberg I said In September 2023, Putin sent him a document that said “NATO will no longer be expanded” as “preconditions to avoid invasion.” [sic] Ukraine: “A few months before the war.
The NATO leaders argued that closing the open door would violate Ukraine’s sovereignty.”Choose your own destiny“But the alliance is a two-way street. All NATO members are committed to defending all other NATO members, so to accept new members you will need a unanimous vote within the alliance. . Not once It’s just a decision from Ukraine.
After three years of war, Ukraine is less independent than ever. Russia not only conquered, but conquered Officially annexed A large chunk of Ukrainian land. Ukraine is now It depends on foreign aid Just to run the state, not to mention an estimated $486 billion. Future reconstruction costs. That’s the case in the US and European countries Plans to offer Ukraine, with its postwar “security guarantees,” will come in the form of foreign peacekeeping forces, not in NATO membership.
The war was not a victory for Russia either. The possibility of having a friendly and obedient Ukraine on the Russian border is I went forever. With the help of NATO countries, Ukraine has Bombing in Russia (include today) and even numbers Captured Russian territory. Putin’s warning became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Throughout the region, there are both in Finland and Sweden. I joined NATO In response to the war.
Of course, the biggest cost comes to scores for Ukrainians and Russians who have been killed or permanently hurt. The casualty rate is the secret of the nations in both countries, Independent estimates Show that by the end of November 2024, approximately 100,000 Ukrainians and 150,000 Russians had been killed. All of these deaths were tragedy and waste.
Putting Ukraine’s future NATO membership on the table may not have been enough to avoid war. Russia’s demands on NATO and Ukraine may have proven impossible to satisfy in the end. But he refuses to even discuss the central issue that guarantees that war will break out. The fact that the US didn’t even have the want NATO Ukraine is a waste of this stubbornness even more.
