Heading towards membership and air defence: what to expect for Ukraine at the NATO summit

On Tuesday, the three-day NATO summit kicks off in the USA. This event is part of US President Joe Biden's presidential campaign. Biden, who insists on his involvement in the elections, aims to demonstrate to voters and allies his strength where he is most effective - international politics.

The NATO summit gives him a chance to show that he can unite the world around the United States. Key decision projects have been agreed upon. They are expected to be quite favourable for Ukraine.

Even regarding Ukraine's progress towards NATO membership, we are likely to see new wording. Read more about the summit inthe article by Sergiy Sydorenko, a European Pravda editor - Bridge builder Joe: What Biden is preparing for Ukraine at the Washington NATO summit. Advertisement:

Given the Ukrainian component of the NATO summit, the main challenge for American diplomats has been ensuring that Ukraine does not ruin the image of a "successful meeting of leaders united around Biden." This concern is not unfounded. Many still remember last year's summit in Vilnius.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not hide his dissatisfaction with the political refusal to invite Ukraine to membership. His tweet angered Biden. In short, everything happened that the White House now wants to avoid.

To confirm readiness for Ukraine's integration into the Alliance and avoid mentioning the word "invitation," a personal red line for Biden, the Department of State has proposed announcing something called a "bridge to NATO." The White House has supported this. Therefore, the final decision of the Euro-Atlantic Council will include a point stating that NATO's policy towards Ukraine creates a "pathway to membership," which ultimately should lead to Ukraine's NATO accession. They are going to "sell" it as a Ukrainian achievement at the summit.

The final wording is currently confidential, but it can already be asserted: there will be no breakthrough in advancing towards membership. So expectations should be realistic. Moreover, this decision is crucial.

It means that "Ukraine sceptics," including Biden, unfortunately, could not win during the negotiation of the Alliance's future policy towards Ukraine. Thus, the USA at the summit will confirm the course towards Ukraine's NATO membership. Moreover, important news about strengthening Ukraine's air defence has reached us in Washington. Such intentions are being discussed in the USA.

So new announcements of assistance will come not only from the Pentagon, say sources. This will be bilateral assistance, formally the Alliance is not involved, but in public perception, it will be part of the success of the Washington NATO summit. But there will also be several important decisions regarding defence assistance, in which the Alliance was directly involved.

First of all, it concerns NATO members' commitments to the scheme and funding amounts for Ukraine's defence forces in 2025. As sources claim, the Alliance has reached a fundamental agreement, and they will announce in Washington funding for Ukraine's defence in the amount of 40 billion euros. This financial burden will be distributed among Alliance members in proportion to their GDP.

However, Hungary is most likely to be exempted to prevent it from blocking the joint decision. Moreover, as Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently confirmed, NATO will take on the coordination and provision of a larger portion of international security assistance. So the NATO summit in Washington, while "pre-election," promises to be filled with news that is truly important for Ukraine.

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