19 Dec, 2024 07:47

US sets conditions for Ukrainian NATO membership

Washington has long insisted that Kiev will join the bloc, but never clarified the exact timeline

Ukraine can only hope to join NATO if it reforms its military and succeeds in improving its democratic institutions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Blinken rejected the idea that the US, Germany, or other NATO allies are “standing in the way” of Kiev’s accession to the bloc. Ukraine has long aspired to become a full-fledged NATO member, and formally applied to join in the autumn of 2022 after four of its former regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.

The bloc, Blinken insisted, has “put Ukraine on a path to NATO membership” and taken concrete steps to advance this goal, while stopping short of clarifying the accession timeline.

“We set up for the first time in NATO’s history a dedicated command whose purpose is to help Ukraine along that path, to take the practical steps that it needs to take – in continuing to build and reform its military institutions, to continue to strengthen its democracy – that are necessary for membership,” he said.

The secretary of state admitted that it would be “very challenging for Russia” to agree to a peace deal over Ukraine that would not explicitly remove the prospect of Kiev joining NATO.

However, he argued that Ukraine could potentially receive “other kinds of assurances, commitments, guarantees” that would be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which states that an attack on one member of the bloc is an attack on all.

In October,Politico reported that some NATO allies were not happy with Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’, which calls for Ukraine to receive an immediate invitation to join the bloc. The article identified the US and Germany as the countries opposed to his request over fears that it would draw them into a direct conflict with Russia.

Publicly, NATO has ruled out full membership for Ukraine as long as it is embroiled in the conflict with Russia. However, some Western officials have floated an option of “partial membership”for Kiev, an idea rejected by Zelensky, who argued that this would essentially mean that the country recognizes all of its territorial losses to Russia.

Moscow has long been opposed to NATO expansion towards its borders, seeing it as an existential threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Kiev’s ambition to join the bloc is one of the key reasons for the conflict, with Ukrainian neutrality, along with demilitarization and denazification, being Moscow’s main goals.

(Zelensky will only promise to negotiate with Russia and stop the war if they are admitted to NATO. He's basically willing to kill 100s of 1000s more Ukrainians to be welcome into the war machine. This little shit has some suffering coming to him.)

https://www.rt.com/news/609582-us-conditions-ukraine-nato-membership/

19 Dec, 2024 04:10

Poland has ‘hit the wall’ with Ukraine military aid – deputy defense minister

Warsaw cannot provide Kiev with any more assistance at this time, Pawel Zalewski has said (it's starting cutting of Zelensky)

Warsaw has reached the limit of what military aid it can provide to Kiev, according to Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski. Speaking to Radio Zet on Wednesday, he stressed that Poland cannot transfer its remaining MiG-29 jets to Ukraine without compromising its own national security.

Poland already supplied Kiev with a squadron of Soviet-era fighter planes in early 2023. Zalewski noted that until Warsaw receives US-made F-35 jets to replace its MiG-29 fleet, further supplies are “off the table.”

Poland’s priority is to strengthen its own defenses, he stated.

“Today, our most important goal is to enhance the defense capabilities of the Polish army, because we believe we have given what we could, and more,” Zalewski said, adding that Warsaw will continue to support Kiev as actively as possible.

“But we can’t give any more… we are reaching the end. I understand we have hit the wall,” he added.

In August, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz reiterated that his country has already provided Ukraine with all the weapons it could without jeopardizing its own defense capabilities. While Warsaw has ordered American F-35 fighter planes to replace its older MiG-29s, these newer jets won’t be delivered until 2026.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Warsaw has provided Kiev with over €4.5 billion ($4.7 billion) in aid, more than 70% of which has been military assistance, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute.

Moscow has warned that no amount of Western military aid can change the outcome of the conflict. The Kremlin maintains that the goals of its military operation – including Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved, and insists that any settlement must begin with Kiev ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will not regain control of its former regions.

https://www.rt.com/news/609569-poland-ukraine-aid-limit/

(Trump spoke with Tusk in France, I wonder if they talked about this?)

>>22193262

18 Dec, 2024 18:41

Germany to close Ukrainian armor repair center in Slovakia – media(another country)

Berlin has reportedly decided to move the facility due to customs disagreements with Bratislava, according to sources

Berlin has reportedly decided to shut down its center for repairing Ukrainian military equipment in Slovakia, dpa reported on Tuesday, citing a source within the German Defense Ministry.

The agency said the center, which was opened in late 2022, had repaired Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled armored howitzers, Dingo armored personnel carriers, MARS II multiple launch rocket systems and Gepard anti-aircraft guns. Similar centers operate in Lithuania and Ukraine.

The facility will be moved to Germany, according to a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry cited by NTV news. The official claimed that Slovakia had repeatedly proved itself “unwieldy” in organizing the center’s operations.

Reports say Germany and Slovakia had a number of disagreements over the restoration of Ukrainian arms, including different interpretations of EU customs rules and difficulties overhauling damaged equipment.

Despite the closure of the center in Slovakia, German officials have said that Ukrainian combat systems will continue to be serviced at other centers.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been at odds with fellow NATO leaders over the West’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict and suspended military aid to Kiev after assuming office in 2023. He has also vowed to oppose Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Instead, he has repeatedly called for a diplomatic resolution between Moscow and Kiev.

In May, Fico was shot multiple times at close range by a man who later confessed to police that he was motivated by the prime minister’s refusal to send weapons to Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/609557-germany-ukraine-arms-repair/