Joe Biden says they will not make it easy for Ukraine to join NATO

As United States President, Joe Biden was heading from Philadelphia to Washington, he was asked if there was a possibility to smooth out the barriers for Ukraine to join NATO. He responded negatively and also clarified that the European country must comply with certain measurements before joining. The American president told the press:

No. Because they’ve got to meet the same standards. So we’re not going to make it easy

In addition, he also believes they have worked to demonstrate United States’ ability to coordinate militarily with Ukraine. However, some other questions remain regarding the security systems and corruption in the country, and these might be the reasons why the joining could take longer. Later on, he added that he thinks the war-torn nation could potentially meet the standards, but the process is not automatic.

This statement comes prior to a scheduled NATO meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, later this year in July. During this meeting, Kyiv is supposed to have a first session with the NATO council, including  President Volodymyr Zelensky. The objective of the meeting is “to discuss and decide on security issues,” according to the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg. The event is set to tighten relations between both the East European country and NATO.

In contrast to Biden’s comments, a source told CNN that the United States could be thinking about abandoning the Membership Action Plan (MAP),  which is a program for advisory, assistance, and practical support toward the needs of nations that wish to join the alliance.