Ukraine will eventually join NATO, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis predicts

Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday from Lithuania that he believes Ukraine has a path to join the NATO alliance even as the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressed concerns on social media that an invitation would not be extended.

“I believe coming out of this summit, there will be a well-defined path ... (and) at some point in the future, Ukraine (will) be invited to move through the accession process,” Tillis said, adding that expanding NATO is a complex process that takes unanimous consent. “I believe that the Ukrainian people, and I also believe President Zelenskyy, is right in expecting that.”

Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, has supported U.S. aid for Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last year. Tillis is in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire. The two co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group led a small group of senators overseas to the 2023 NATO Summit and held a news conference Tuesday.

This is the 31st time a NATO Summit has been held. The summits are used to create policy, build partnerships with non-NATO countries and accept new countries into the alliance.

Sweden

Sweden submitted an application last summer but was met with opposition from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan because groups that Turkey considers terrorists are allowed to operate in Sweden.

Despite that, the Turkish president relented this week, signaling to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that he would allow Sweden to join the Alliance.

“I … want to thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his leadership and bridging the gaps on concerns over Swedish accession,” Tillis said. “I also want to take this opportunity to thank Turkey for all of its past investments in its work with NATO. It’s not lost on me and the American people that they answered the Article 5 call, when it’s only been used for one time in the history of our alliance and that was on our 9/11.”

Under Article 5, the alliance will consider an attack on one of its members as an attack on all of them and take necessary actions. NATO confirmed, following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Pennsylvania that left 2,977 people dead, that the United States had been targeted by a foreign adversary and for the first time invoked Article 5.

U.S. officials have warned that Article 5 could be used against Russia, if the war in Ukraine spills into a neighboring country that’s part of NATO.

Ukraine

Zelenskyy tweeted Tuesday that while he was en route to Lithuania he learned that conversations were happening without him about whether to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance. He considered that a sign of disrespect.

“It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” Zelenskyy wrote. “This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia. And for Russia, this means motivation to continue terror. Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”

Tillis told reporters Tuesday that the summit should not send the message that NATO is divided.

“We’re unified in our support for Ukraine,” Tillis said. “We’re demonstrating that with our actions over the last 18 months, and I for one, believe that there is a path forward for Ukraine and a path that they can continue down as they move to the successful completion of the conflict and removal of Russia from Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy changed his own message when he arrived in Lithuania.

“Thank you for your help to our defense and for your clear, honest and courageous position on inviting Ukraine to NATO,” he tweeted. “Ukrainian flags on Lithuanian streets clearly prove that we are already allies, and Ukraine will defend both its own and your freedom!

“NATO will give Ukraine security. Ukraine will make the Alliance stronger.”

Soon after, CBS News reporter Sara Cook tweeted that Stoltenberg told reporters NATO has agreed to extend an invitation to Ukraine once conditions are met. But he added that during a war is not the right time to make Ukraine a full member.

During their news conference, Shaheen told reporters that the senators traveled to Lithuania to show support for NATO and Ukraine

“People are feeling very good about progress at the summit,” Shaheen said.

Tillis said he believes Russia will lose to Ukraine and spend decades building capabilities much of the world thought that it had before the invasion.

“This is a strategic opportunity for us to show that we’re invested in increasing NATO capabilities, interoperability, and defense,” Tillis said. “So I believe that this summit is another one of several summits that I’ve been to that will be successful, and I’m very optimistic about the future and I’m absolutely optimistic about bipartisan support and Congress for supporting the Ukraine effort for as long as it takes.”