No membership for Kiev at the NATO July summit

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Agency
14 May 2023 20:18

The primary contestant in Ukraine's bid for NATO membership is Germany: who unlike the UK and the US, argued that Ukraine's current conflict with a nuclear power makes it an unfavorable candidate for NATO

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, second left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, talk during their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, April 20, 2023 (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

NATO's anticipated July summit in Lithuania will reportedly entail no progress on Kiev's bid to membership in the military alliance, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal.

While the summit will include extensive proposals for increasing support to Kiev, Ukraine's long-desired bid for NATO membership is reportedly off the agenda.

The primary contestant of Ukraine's bid for NATO membership is Germany, the newspaper added. Germany, unlike the UK and the US, argued that Ukraine's current conflict with a nuclear power makes it an unfavorable candidate for NATO. However, the paper added, that Kiev would be able to join the alliance in the future.

Earlier this week, a new YouGov poll revealed that a majority of Germans oppose Ukraine joining NATO.

The poll, commissioned by the German agency dpa, was conducted before the Ukrainian President is scheduled to visit Berlin.

According to the study, when questioned about the Ukrainian issue and possible solutions, 55% of respondents said they supported peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, while 28% opposed discussions.

The news agency provided no information on the number of respondents or the specific date of the survey, just stating that it was conducted shortly before Zelensky's scheduled trip to Germany.