Ukraine is not ready for NATO membership, says Joe Biden

livemint.com:

interview with Fareed Zakaria of CNN ahead of his weeklong trip to Europe the US President said it was “premature" to begin the process to allow Ukraine to join the alliance in the middle of a war and that the process could take place only after a peace agreement with Russia was in place. Biden further said the US and its allies in NATOwould continue to provide President Volodymyr Zelensky and his forces the security and weaponry they need to try to end the war with Russia.

“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war," Biden said. “For example, if you did that, then, you know – and I mean what I say – we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory.

It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war.

We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case", the US president added. The US president said that he’s spoken to Zelensky at length about the issue, saying that he’s told the Ukrainian president the US would keep providing security and weaponry for Ukraine like it does for Israel while the process plays out.

“I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO," Biden said, noting that he refused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands before the war for a commitment not to admit Ukraine because the alliance has “an open-door policy." “But I think it’s premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues," Biden added. Earlier on Friday, the Biden administration announced that the US