NATO still divided over Ukraine’s membership path, despite agreeing to pull country closer: Analysts

The difficulties lie in how a collective defence clause remains a cornerstone of the alliance, said Ms Rizzo, highlighting Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states an attack on one member of NATO is an attack against all members.

“It basically requires, by treaty, NATO countries to come to the aid of another country should they be invaded.”

NO CLEAR PATH TO NATO MEMBERSHIP

While NATO has dropped the requirement for Ukraine to fulfil a so-called Membership Action Plan (MAP), removing a hurdle on Kyiv’s way into the alliance, observers are not optimistic of Ukraine’s entry into the bloc any time soon. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t see a clear pathway right now where the US would be on board for Ukraine’s NATO membership or for offering extremely clear language of how to lay that out,” Ms Rizzo told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday. 

“The question I always come back to is, if (Ukraine was) a member of NATO, would we come to the defence of Ukraine? And if we didn’t, what would that mean for the entire NATO security architecture?

“I think NATO leaders or US leaders ask themselves that same question, which still seems like it would be a really, really difficult proposition, even five or 10 years down the line.”