Ukraine has to win this war to join NATO – White House
John Kirby, coordinator for strategic Communications at the White House National Security Council, said at a briefing on Monday that in order to join NATO, Ukraine must win the war against Russia.
"The alliance has talked about it and the United States has certainly talked about, first they gotta win this war," Kirby said and added that they're doing everything they can to make sure that Ukrainians can do it.
He also said that when the war is over, Ukrainians are still going to have a long border with Russia and a legitimate security threat to the Ukrainian people.
According to Kirby, Joe Biden "believes that NATO is in Ukraine's future. There are a lot of things that have to be done before they can join the alliance, like any member has to do before they can join the alliance.
“That's why the president at the – at the G7 signed our bilateral security agreement joining, what, some other – 14, 15 other countries have done the same thing, to make sure that, for the long haul, Ukraine's defense industrial base can continue to make sure that they have what they need to defend themselves, and that includes assistance from the United States. That's the long haul,” he said.
Kirby stressed that bilateral security agreement “will help them defend themselves while they work on the necessary things.”
“Before they can apply for NATO membership. But we do believe that NATO is in Ukraine's future, and we're going to work with them every step of the way to get them there,” Kirby added.