Ukraine Belongs in NATO — Just Not Yet
A firm commitment to expand the alliance would bolster Europe’s security and deter further Russian aggression. Just don’t rush things.
Good idea, bad timing.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
Although no one knows how the war in Ukraine will end, the country’s leaders maintain that they’ll continue to face the threat of Russian aggression long after the fighting subsides. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that the only way to ensure the country’s security is for it to join NATO. He wants the alliance to commit to a timetable for Ukraine’s membership during its July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
It’s a good idea at a terrible time. NATO members are rightly wary of discussing such an escalation while the war is raging. Yet Ukraine’s eventual membership should remain a strategic goal: It would safeguard the country’s independence, bolster the stability of Europe as a whole, and deter Vladimir Putin from ever again attempting to seize control of his neighbor.