Fifteen years ago at its Bucharest Summit, NATO made the decision in principle to welcome Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance, though with the date and conditions left unspecified. NATO membership for Ukraine is not necessarily the outlandish stretch that skeptics claim. Contrary to much either-or handwringing, diplomatic history points to myriad ways and conditions to accomplish this goal. In any case, the United States and Europe need to face a hard truth: when this phase of the war ends and Ukraine is left in a grey zone of ambiguity and insecurity, Russian President Vladimir Putin ultimately could resume his war of imperial conquest and national extermination at will.Īs NATO prepares for its summit this year in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July, the alliance needs to look again at membership for Ukraine as the best way to lock in and enforce peace in Europe, a benefit that would far outweigh the costs. Nobody knows how the current phase of Russia’s war in Ukraine will end, whether with more, most, or even all of Ukraine’s territory liberated, or in an ugly ceasefire with Russia occupying significant parts of Ukrainian territory. “We agreed today that will become members of NATO.” - Bucharest Summit Declaration, April 2008
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