No consensus among NATO members on inviting Ukraine to join alliance — Reuters

There’s “no sign” of consensus among NATO’s 32 members on inviting Ukraine to join the alliance at the upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting, Reuters and Deutsche Welle reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.

The meeting will take place in Brussels on December 3 and 4. “It will take weeks and months to get consensus. I don’t see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised,” a senior NATO diplomat told journalists.

Nonetheless, the Ukrainian delegation is expected to raise the issue of NATO membership during the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on December 3, according to DW.

An anonymous U.S. official told Reuters that the meeting’s focus would be on strengthening support for Ukraine to ensure it enters “possible negotiations” in the strongest possible position. The source said this would involve additional “money, munitions and mobilization.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Tuesday reiterating that Kyiv will reject any alternatives to full NATO membership. “We are convinced that the only real security guarantee for Ukraine, as well as the only deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” the statement reads, according to European Pravda.