From ‘bridge’ to ‘irreversibility’: NATO comes up with new wording for Ukraine’s membership – CNN

9 July 2024 09:58

The draft joint communiqué on the results of the NATO summit describes Ukraine’s path to joining the Alliance as “irreversible”. And it is this wording that will be “sold” to Ukraine. This was reported by CNN, citing three sources familiar with the situation, according to "Komersant Ukrainian"

The question of how strong guarantees to give Ukraine regarding its future membership in NATO has become a key subject of debate among the 32 members of the Alliance ahead of the summit in Washington. Although the draft may change before the final version, the presence of the word “irreversible” will send a significant signal to Kyiv and Moscow amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, NATO officials say.

According to one of the sources, a US official, the White House supports the use of this word in the final communiqué, provided that the document also confirms the need for Ukraine to continue working on democratic reforms. The final version is expected to contain this wording.

While many Europeans stressed the need for strong language on Ukraine’s future in the Alliance, representatives of the United States and Germany suggested that a “bridge” to NATO membership for Ukraine should be described.

However, officials also emphasised the importance of “tangible measures” to support Kyiv’s ongoing struggle against Russia. Ruslan Stefanchuk, the head of the Ukrainian parliament, said at the event on Monday that it was not just about language, but about bringing Ukraine closer to NATO.

A senior US administration official said on Friday that the Alliance would make “significant new announcements on how we are increasing NATO’s military, political and financial support for Ukraine” as part of a “bridge to NATO” for Kyiv.

And on Monday, US officials refused to publicly discuss the details of the joint communiqué ahead of the summit, which begins on Tuesday.

“It is only right that much attention is being paid to what the allies will say about Ukraine’s path to membership in the summit declaration. The wording will be clear and powerful. They will recognise Ukraine’s vital ongoing reform efforts and demonstrate Allied support for Ukraine’s path to NATO membership,”

– said Michael Carpenter, senior adviser for European affairs at the US National Security Council, at a briefing on Monday.

The senior administration official added that what they “described in terms of the bridge to membership and the outcomes that NATO will announce for Ukraine is quite substantial”.

“We’re not talking about some kind of plan to get from here to there. We’re talking about setting up a whole command in Wiesbaden, and we’re going to look at how we do the different elements that I mentioned earlier – training, coordination, equipment, logistics, force development. This is a very serious effort to put Ukraine in a position where it will be ready to assume its roles and responsibilities within the Alliance from day one,” the official said,

– the official said.

However, NATO allies are currently unable to agree on the amount of long-term funding for Ukraine.