A bipartisan group of senators will travel to Vilnius, Lithuania, next month for the NATO summit to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine amid continued efforts to grant the country membership in the alliance.
Two sources familiar with the plans told the Washington Examiner that Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who co-led the Senate NATO Observer Group, will lead the six-member delegation, which will include Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Angus King (I-ME), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK). President Joe Biden is also slated to attend the summit when it convenes July 11-12.
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“In response to Putin’s further invasion of Ukraine and his barbaric campaign of violence against a sovereign nation and civilian populations, NATO responded with historic unity and strength," Shaheen and Tillis said in a statement. "To stand by our partners and defend democracy worldwide — from Putin or any adversary who threatens our rules-based order — the Alliance must continue to work in lock-step. We look forward to conveying that message and reaffirming the United States’ commitment to that promise at the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius.”
NATO had 30 members at the start of Russia's war in Ukraine in February of last year, though Finland and Sweden quickly ended their neutrality and applied to join the alliance. Finland became the 31st member earlier this month, while Turkey and Hungary have objected to Sweden's application.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had lobbied the alliance to grant his country NATO membership in the two years leading up to Russia's invasion, but the threat of impending military intervention was not enough to convince every member state to approve the application. Members such as Turkey voiced concerns over Ukraine's long-standing corruption issues and have not shown an interest in approving the Eastern European nation's requests to join the alliance.
Asked earlier this month about the potential for Ukraine joining NATO at some point, Biden insisted that no one, including the U.S., was making it easy for the country to gain acceptance to the alliance.
“No," Biden said. "Because they’ve got to meet the same standards. So, we’re not going to make it easy.”
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The president said Ukraine has the "ability to coordinate [its] military" as it defends itself from the Russian invasion but that the country must "meet all the standards" to join NATO fully. He also rejected reports that his administration was looking at waiving the requirement for Ukraine to have a Membership Action Plan to join NATO.
"I think they've done everything relating to demonstrating the ability to coordinate militarily, but there's a whole issue of: Is their system secure? Is it noncorrupt? Does it meet all the standards every other nation in NATO does?" he said. "I think they will. I think they can, but it's not automatic."