State Department Defends NATO’s Hesitation On Ukraine’s Application After Zelenskyy Voices Frustration 

The State Department Tuesday defended NATO’s reluctance to invite Ukraine into the alliance after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aired his frustrations over the situation. 

Speaking to reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the two-day summit is being held, press secretary Matthew Miller cited several conditions the alliance says Ukraine must meet before being invited, including the end of the war with Russia and democratic reforms. 

“We are ready to extend an invitation when conditions are met,” said Miller. “There is an important reason why they are not becoming a member of NATO right now — because it would instantly put the United States in a shooting war with Russia.”

Miller’s comments come just days after President Joe Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during a sit-down interview that the European nation cannot be admitted until the war is done, saying  “if the war is going on, then we’re all in war.”

A summit communiqué, published Tuesday evening, stressed Ukraine “has become increasingly interoperable and politically integrated with the Alliance” and the letter represents a step forward in the process. 

Zelenskyy hit out at the alliance’s reluctance, saying in a statement on Twitter he did not see NATO’s readiness to accept his country. 

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy said. “While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”