Accepting Ukraine into NATO now is too risky, writes Daniel DePetris, a fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank, in his article for The Washington Post.
The United States and its NATO allies have been deciding for too long whether Ukraine should be a member of the alliance. In the author’s opinion, it is high time for Washington to give the Ukrainians the answer: “Thanks, but no.”.
Bringing Ukraine under the “NATO umbrella” is wrong for a number of reasons, the article notes. First, it is likely to prolong the Ukrainian conflict, not shorten it.
Second, even if Ukraine were to join the alliance, it is unclear whether this would convince Russia that the United States and its European allies would fight on Kyiv’s side. Over the past two years, the West has repeatedly decided not to do so, and the United States has even banned the use of American weapons to strike Russian territory.
“Instead of constantly teasing Ukraine with the phantom membership in NATO in some distant future, the alliance should honestly tell it: we will support you, but the costs of official membership simply outweigh the benefits,” the author writes.
