Speaking to CNN, the US president says Ukraine “is not ready” to join NATO while the war with Russia is ongoing, but assures that the United States will continue to supply weapons to Kiev .
Ukraine, a member of NATO, will not be for now. A few days before an Alliance summit in Vilnius, US President Joe Biden said Sunday at the microphone of CNN that the country of Volodymyr Zelensky is “not ready” to join NATO.
“I don’t think there is unanimity within NATO on whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this time, in the midst of a war,” explained the tenant of the White House, recalling the determination of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to defend “every centimeter” of its territory.
If Kiev joined the alliance before the end of the conflict with Moscow, “we would be at war with Russia”, warns Joe Biden.
An “impossible” membership?
However, pending Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO, Joe Biden indicated that “the United States would be ready to supply weapons” to Kiev, in order to ensure the security of Ukrainian territory, as is done with Israel.
“I think it is premature to call for a vote [sur l’adhesion de Kiev à l’Otan, ndlr] now”, hammered Joe Biden, who says he spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky on the subject.
At the beginning of June, during a press conference, the Ukrainian president himself admitted that his country’s accession to the Alliance would be “impossible” before the end of the ongoing war with Russia.
“Joining NATO is the best guarantee of security for Ukraine (…) but we understand that we will not drag a single NATO country into a war,” he said.
Joe Biden arrived in the United Kingdom on Sunday evening, before joining Vilnius in Lithuania for the NATO summit on July 11 and 12. His diplomatic tour comes shortly after the controversial US decision to supply Kiev with cluster munitions, banned by most NATO members but which the United States has kept in its arsenal.
The American president will end his tour with a visit to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, which put an end to its historically neutral position then non-aligned to integrate NATO, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Source: BFM TV
