NATO will offer Ukraine a 'bridge' to membership, hoping that's enough

NATO will offer Ukraine a new headquarters to manage its military assistance at its upcoming 75th anniversary summit in Washington, officials said, an assurance of the alliance’s long-term commitment to the country’s security that has been heralded as a “bridge” to Ukraine’s eventual membership.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine — along with some Central European nations — had fervently hoped his country would be offered membership negotiations by NATO at the summit, which runs from July 9 to 11.

Instead, the alliance will announce that it has agreed to set up a mission in Germany to coordinate aid of all kinds to Ukraine over the longer term, US and NATO officials said. The move is intended to send a strong signal of both allied commitment, to Ukraine and to Russia, which hopes the West will grow tired of supporting the war.

Because the mission will be under NATO’s auspices, it is designed to function even if Donald Trump, a sharp critic of the alliance and of aid to Ukraine, wins the US presidency in November.

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The Biden administration and NATO officials came up with the idea as a way to give something solid to Ukraine at the summit even as they maintain the time is not right for the country to join.

It is not just that Ukraine is still at war, which could make NATO an active participant in the fighting. President Joe Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany have said that Ukraine must make important reforms to reduce corruption and improve its democracy and rule of law.

The hope is that the mission and the commitment it represents will satisfy Zelenskyy and lead to a smoother summit than the last one, a year ago in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he made his unhappiness clear when Ukraine was not offered a firm timeline for membership negotiations.

The new mission will bring under one umbrella the activities of the current “capabilities coalition” of countries that provide various aspects of military aid to Ukraine, like air defenses, artillery, F-16 fighter jets, arms and training.

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It will also coordinate training of Ukrainian military personnel in allied countries and the longer-term bilateral security agreements that different countries have signed with Ukraine, according to the US and NATO officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the plan have not yet been announced.