U.S. NATO envoy doesn’t expect Ukraine to be offered membership at July D.C. summit

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The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, doesn’t expect the alliance to offer membership to Ukraine during its 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July. But, she added, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy won’t go away empty-handed.

Speaking to the Atlantic Council from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ms. Smith on Monday said the 32 NATO allies are working on an “actual deliverable” that will demonstrate the alliance’s commitment to ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty. Last year, NATO formally said Ukraine’s future lies with the alliance.

“I am expecting allies to construct a bridge to membership by offering Ukraine a ‘deliverable’ that will enable them to become closer to the alliance,” Ms. Smith said.

As it battles with invading Russians, Ukraine has made no secret of its hopes one day to become a member of the U.S.-led military alliance. Some NATO members, particularly those in Eastern Europe, have pushed for an invitation to Kyiv while acknowledging it couldn’t join while still at war.

Ms. Smith was unable to go into further detail because NATO allies are continuing to debate what Ukraine’s relationship to the alliance would look like short of a full membership. It is expected to be more than the current NATO-Ukraine Council, which allows Kyiv’s representatives to discuss their needs as equal partners.

“We are looking at a way to institutionalize here at NATO some of the bilateral support that’s been provided to Ukraine over the last two years,” she said.

Burden-sharing — the degree to which NATO members are shouldering the costs of collective security — is expected to be high on the agenda during the Washington summit. In 2014, the allies agreed on a spending benchmark of 2% of their economic GDP for military weapons and equipment.

“When we made that pledge, three allies were spending 2% of their GDP on defense. Today, at last count, we are at least 20,” Ms. Smith said. “Maybe we’ll get one or two more before the summit occurs.”

British Gen. Hastings Ismay, the first secretary general of NATO, famously quipped that NATO’s mission was to keep the Americans in Europe, the Russians out, and the Germans down. Ms. Smith said NATO has dramatically evolved since the Cold War.

“NATO was created in a different era and it was prepared for different threats,” she said. 

Challenges for the alliance today range from climate security to cyberattacks and defense production, Ms. Smith said.

“What was once an alliance that focused primarily on conventional military threats is now an alliance that copes with and addresses the full spectrum of security challenges,” she said. “We have to broaden the conversation we’re having in the United States about why we created NATO and why it’s still important 75 years later.”