Washington and Berlin remain cautious on Ukraine's NATO membership

Ukraine's ambitions of joining the US-led military alliance anytime soon are likely to be dashed. The United States and Germany aren't prepared to commit Kyiv anything regarding Ukraine's NATO membership. German Press Agency, dpa, reported that the bloc's major players—including the US and Germany—recently communicated to Kyiv in private that they are not interested in making any obligations beyond the general NATO statement from 2008.

Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO: Jens Stoltenberg

At the time, the leaders of the NATO member states declared that Georgia, another former Soviet republic, and Ukraine should join the alliance but gave no specific date for either country's admission. Last month, when in Kyiv, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed that "Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, asserted that "this is not the time to decide" regarding Ukraine's membership in NATO. Members of the bloc should think on this matter “with a cool head and a hot heart. Not the other way around,” according to Pistorius.

Without NATO membership, difficult to restore security in Europe: Ukraine

Piotr Wawrzyk, the deputy foreign minister of Poland, expressed his outrage at the German minister's remarks by asserting that “it’s known that France, Germany, and countries in Western Europe, in general, have always been against Ukraine joining either the EU or NATO.” Gitanas Nauseda, the president of Lithuania, another NATO state, said earlier this week that admitting Ukraine to the alliance "would be too difficult" as long as the confrontation with Russia persists. He stated that the Kyiv government is also fully aware of this.

Moscow, which views NATO's enlargement to the east as a serious security threat, cited Ukraine's attempt to join the organisation as one of the primary causes for starting its military action against Kyiv more than a year ago. Mikhail Podoliak, the top advisor to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy, recently reaffirmed Kyiv's ambition to join the organisation, asserting that without "the country's full membership in NATO," it would be difficult to restore security in Europe.