Biden says Ukraine not ready for NATO, but makes counter-offer

US President Joe Biden believes that Ukraine is not ready to become a full member of NATO. In his opinion, it will be possible to return to this issue only after the war is over. He said this in an interview with CNN .

He pointed out that NATO, according to the agreements, should protect all its members and pointed out that admitting Ukraine to the alliance at this time would mean directly engaging in a war with Russia. Biden noted that not all members of the Alliance were ready for this war.

Ukraine is not ready for NATO membership now, in the middle of a war. There is no unanimity among members of the Alliance to accept Ukraine into NATO now," he pointed out.

At the same time, he assured that NATO remains an ally of Ukraine and Kiev will continue to receive support from the USA and allies in the war against Russia.

The USA will be ready to help as long as this process continues after the war. We are ready to provide security assistance, such as we provide to Israel. We are ready to provide the weapons that we need to defend ourselves," Biden said.

The head of the White House stressed that the model of cooperation with Kiev would be discussed in Vilnius during the NATO summit. There they will also discuss the Israeli model of cooperation in the context of Ukraine.

It should be noted that although Israel is not a member of NATO, the United States has pledged to come to the aid of the state. Such cooperation is stipulated by ten-year agreements signed by the parties. The last of them obligates Washington to provide $38 billion in military aid to Israel in the period from 2019 to 2028.

We would like to add that Ukraine is seeking a signal of support for its NATO membership and hopes to receive it at the Alliance summit in Vilnius on 11-12 July.