The United States does not support granting Ukraine an invitation to join NATO today in order not to irritate Russian leader Vladimir Putin, states Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Zelenskyy, neither current President Joe Biden nor presidential candidate Donald Trump supports Ukraine's membership in NATO today.
"We understand that the White House is not ready to give us an invitation. They are talking about it openly. President Biden is talking about it. And Trump says that if it were not for NATO, the war might not have started. We hear both opinions of the two parties. And this suggests that no one sees Ukraine in NATO today. Unfortunately," he said.
However, according to Zelenskyy, he does not support such an American policy and considers it a step backward. In his opinion, such a cautious policy is similar to "the steps of a deminer in a minefield," not the policy of world leaders.
"Realizing all this, if there is no invitation for us today, we want specifics. If America is afraid of irritating Putin, and that is why we are not invited there, then we ask the United States to give us as much as possible that can protect us. We ask for Patriots, enough F-16s, enough weapons to protect ourselves," the president said.
According to Zelenskyy, if NATO does not want to take Ukraine into its alliance today, Ukraine asks to give it everything it needs to defend itself from Russian aggression.
NATO summit in Washington
In early July, the 75th anniversary NATO summit will be held in Washington, D.C., and Ukraine will be on the agenda. Kyiv had hoped to receive a political invitation to join the Alliance at the summit, but the United States made it clear that this would not happen.
Instead, in its final statement, NATO is expected to promise to create a "bridge" to Ukraine's membership in the Alliance. Read more about Ukraine's expectations from the NATO summit here.
RBC-Ukraine also explained why Ukraine has not yet become a NATO member.
