President Biden says Ukraine cannot join NATO yet

Mr Biden made the remarks ahead of a week-long trip to Europe, including a NATO summit in Lithuania, where Ukraine's bid to join the military alliance is one of the main issues at the meeting.

“I don’t think there’s consensus within NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family at this point in time — in the middle of a war,” Biden said.

The US president said he had a long talk with Mr Zelenskyy about this issue, in which he mentioned that the US would continue to provide military aid to Ukraine, as it does to Israel, while this process takes place.

“I think we have to chart a reasonable path for Ukraine to qualify for NATO,” Biden said, noting that he had rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request before the fighting to pledge not to admit Ukraine because the alliance had an “open-door policy.”

“But I think it is too early to talk about calling for a vote,.. because there are other conditions that need to be met, including democratization and some other issues,” he further explained.

The NATO summit comes as Sweden is also seeking to join the Western military alliance, but faces opposition from Türkiye and Hungary. President Biden said he was optimistic that Sweden would eventually be admitted to NATO.

Mai Anh (according to CNN)

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