On a day marking the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization dropped a diplomatic bombshell of his own.
“Ukraine will join NATO,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, according to a transcript of his speech.
“It is not a question of if, but of when.”
JUST IN: Ukraine will join NATO, Chief says. pic.twitter.com/6zVyjrTOEu
— BRICS (@BRICSinfo) February 24, 2024
That’s a significant statement, considering the future of Ukraine and its potential for membership in the NATO alliance has been a huge sticking point for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One of the reasons for the Russian invasion was to install a pro-Kremlin government in the Ukraine capital of Kyiv and prevent a membership from taking place, as NPR reported in 2022.
Now, the alliance’s secretary general has declared it “inevitable.”
It’s not the first time Stoltenberg has made a statement like it. In April, as The Associated Press reported, he said Ukraine’s “rightful place is in NATO.”
Should NATO allow Ukraine entrance to the alliance?
But making a statement declaring that membership is “inevitable,” on a day marking the anniversary of an invasion that is taking place specifically to prevent that membership, raises the stakes of the fighting involved.
And it drew a large response on social media from those on both sides of the issue.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was profoundly grateful for the statement.
Dear Jens, thank you for your personal efforts to strengthen Ukraine, as well as for NATO’s key role in rallying the support of allies. Ukraine is already an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic community, and as a future NATO member, we will strengthen the Alliance even further.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 25, 2024
“Ukraine is already an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic community, and as a future NATO member, we will strengthen the Alliance even further,” he wrote.
But there were plenty of critics.
“Ukraine is now closer to NATO than ever before.”
Are you serious? That was Russia’s only demand in the negotiations in March 2022, in order to end this now seemingly endless war at an early stage.No NATO membership! What you are saying here is an indirect threat! What country…
— Annika Hoberg (@ShenTe29) February 24, 2024
DANGEROUS ESCALATION: Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine will join NATO.
NATO is now a menace to its own members with leaders hell-bent on escalating to war rather than ending the conflict and normalising relations with Russia.pic.twitter.com/7OA1nZ5uXk— David Kurten (@davidkurten) February 25, 2024
Under Article 5 of the NATO charter, “if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.”
NATO membership might well have forestalled the Russian invasion of 2022.
It could also mean that if the attack had taken place, NATO countries — which means principally its most powerful member, the United States — could be at war with Russia, too.
