Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that during a meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden in Washington, he said that Ukraine should be in NATO, but it depends not only on the US president. Zelensky said this during an interview with Farid Zakaria on CNN.
Zelensky said that he asked Biden about Ukraine's membership in NATO and "very directly when it might happen." According to him, the response of the US president regarding this and the alliance as a whole lasted about 20-30 minutes.
"He said: I think you should be there, but it's not just my decision. I heard this rhetoric from him before the meeting, " the President of Ukraine said. In his opinion, the US position is influenced by " the advice of some leaders of major European countries."
"I told him: you are right, Mr. President. But I think that because of your decision, this path to NATO will be shorter and more transparent for Ukraine," Zelensky added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba stated that during the meeting on September 1, Zelensky and Biden paid considerable attention to the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO. According to him, the United States supports Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, but no specific deadlines were discussed.
The head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said that not all NATO countries support Ukraine's membership in the alliance.
The White House said that in order to join the alliance, Ukraine must fulfill a number of conditions and this is not the decision that the United States makes.
On April 6, Vladimir Zelensky, during a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, said that joining NATO is the only way to end the war in the Donbas.
Following the results of the NATO summit on June 14, the leaders of the alliance member countries published a communique in which they supported the decision of 2008 that Ukraine would become a member of NATO, and called for continuing reforms, in particular the fight against corruption and the reform of the SBU.
On March 9, 2018, NATO granted Ukraine the status of a postgraduate country-an official recognition of the state's desire to obtain full membership in the alliance. The course for joining NATO was enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine in 2019.
