“We’re determined to [protect] every inch of territory that is NATO territory,” Biden said, noting that if Ukraine were part of NATO, it would put the alliance at war with Russia.
Biden added that it was “premature” to call for a vote on Ukrainian membership because the country still has to meet some NATO qualifications. Biden said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have spoken at length about the issue of membership, and said the two have laid out a “rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify.”
Still, Biden said the United States remains committed to supplying the war-torn nation with the security assistance it needs to continue fending off Russia.
Like Biden, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said talk of Ukraine’s membership is “too premature.” McCaul told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that Ukraine has to win the counteroffensive against Russia, secure a cease-fire and negotiate a peace settlement before joining NATO.
“We cannot admit Ukraine into NATO immediately; that would put us at war with Russia under Article 5 of the United Nations,” McCaul said.
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that the war “has to end with Ukrainian victory,” and that Ukraine also has to join the European Union, which involves “improving their transparency, their rule of law, their civil society, which lays the foundation for NATO membership in the future.”
Zelensky, in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC, said inviting Ukraine into the alliance is “all a matter of political will.” In the meantime, Zelensky said Ukraine “should get clear security guarantees” from NATO members in the effort against Russia.
“It would be an important message to say that NATO is not afraid of Russia,” he said.
Zelensky said he will attend the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week, to do whatever he can to “expedite that solution to have an agreement with our partners.”
“I don’t want to go to Vilnius for fun,” he said.
John Kirby, the spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said on ABC’s “This Week” that strong commitments will be made to Ukraine during the upcoming summit.
“You’re going to see the allies really stay unified on supporting Ukraine in this fight against Russia on their soil,” Kirby said. “You’re also going to see from all the allies a concerted, unified approach to making it clear that NATO is eventually going to be in Ukraine’s future, and that in between the time of the war ending and that happening, that the allies will continue to help Ukraine defend itself.”
While Biden remained skeptical of Ukraine’s ascension into the alliance in the immediate future, he told CNN he remains optimistic that Sweden, which has also been fighting for membership, will become a NATO member soon. Extending membership to a new nation requires the approval of all NATO allies, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have cited objections to adding Sweden.
“Sweden has the same value set that we have in NATO, [is] a small nation, but has a capacity to defend itself, as they know how to fight,” Biden said, echoing other statements he has made in the lead-up to the summit. “I think they should be a member of NATO.”
Turkey has criticized Sweden for refusing to extradite individuals it sees as terrorists, including members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a movement accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government in 2016. Turkey also has complained about anti-Erdogan protests held in Sweden and demonstrations at which Qurans were burned.
Officials in Hungary, meanwhile, have cited a variety of reasons for their country’s refusal to ratify Sweden’s accession, from what a government spokesman said was Stockholm’s eagerness to “bash Hungary” to the Nordic country’s “crumbling throne of moral superiority.”
Biden, in the interview with CNN, responded to Turkey’s criticisms by arguing that it isn’t “Swedes that are burning the Quran. They are immigrants who are burning the Quran.”
Nitasha Tiku contributed to this report.
