European officials warn of World War 3 scenario 0
(Dan Tri) – European officials warn of a risky scenario if Ukraine joins NATO when the conflict with Russia has not ended.
Leaders welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023 (Photo: Getty).
`The message sent to Russia is very clear: Ukraine will be a member of the European Union, then we are working to make Ukraine a member of NATO,` Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on the sidelines of the Security Conference.
However, Mr. Tajani added that it is still too early to consider Ukraine’s membership in the NATO alliance until the war ends.
`We need to be very cautious,` Mr. Tajani said, warning that a NATO member having a conflict with Russia would mean World War 3.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte refused to say whether he would support Ukraine becoming a NATO member at the upcoming meeting of alliance leaders.
`The bad news is that as long as the war continues, Ukraine cannot become a NATO member. The good news is that we can learn from the European Union,` Mr. Rutte added, referring to the EU’s approach
On December 14, 2023, EU leaders agreed to start negotiations to admit Ukraine and Moldova.
The above decision does not mean that Ukraine can join the EU immediately, this process can take many years, but will be a huge political motivation for Kiev in the context of the current war with Russia.
Ukraine applied to join the EU in 2022, not long after Russia launched its special military operation.
In September 2022, the President of Ukraine also announced that he was accelerating the process of applying to join NATO, and affirmed that `in fact, Ukraine has joined NATO` and that Ukraine’s proposal to join `is legal.`
However, US President Joe Biden emphasized that the conflict between Kiev and Moscow needs to end before Ukraine’s application to join NATO can be considered.
Mr. Aleksey Arestovich, former assistant to President Volodymyr Zelensky, warned that the price to pay for the `possibility` of Ukraine joining NATO is the beginning of `a big war with Russia`.
Article 5 of the NATO Charter clearly states that any armed attack against one or more NATO member states will be considered against the entire 31-member military alliance led by the United States.
