NATO reaffirms its support for Ukraine and reopens the door for it to join the alliance in the future

By Stephen McGrath, Lorne Cook and Ellen Knickmeyer -

BUCHAREST, Romania — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday reaffirmed the alliance's commitment to Ukraine, saying the war-torn country will one day be a member of the world's largest security organization.

Stoltenberg made the remarks in Romania, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was meeting with his NATO counterparts to prepare urgently needed support for Ukraine to ensure that Moscow fails to defeat Ukraine with its attacks on the energy infrastructure.

[Ukraine reports explosions near Europe's largest nuclear plant]

“The NATO door is open,” Stoltenberg said.

"Russia does not have the right to veto" over countries joining, he added, alluding to the recent entry of North Macedonia and Montenegro into the alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon "have Finland and Sweden as members of NATO," he added.

The Nordic countries applied to join in April out of concern that they could be Russia's next targets.

“We stand for that too, membership for Ukraine,” said the former Norwegian prime minister.

"At the same time, the priority now is to support Ukraine, to make sure that President Putin doesn't win, but that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign nation in Europe."

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Stoltenberg was basically reiterating a promise made by NATO in Bucharest in 2008, in the same Palace of Parliament where the foreign ministers were meeting this week, that Ukraine and Georgia would one day join the alliance.

Some officials and analysts believe that strategy, which former US President George W. Bush set for his NATO allies, is partly responsible for the war launched by Russia in February.

Soltenberg disagreed.

[Zelenskyy appears in a retaken city and says that the beginning of the end of the war may be near]

"President Putin cannot deny sovereign nations to make their own sovereign decisions that are not a threat to Russia," he said.

"I think what scares him is democracy and freedom, and that's the main challenge for him."

Still, Ukraine won't be joining NATO any time soon.

Following Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and southern and eastern areas controlled by Russian troops and pro-Russian separatists, it is not even clear what the country's borders would look like.

Many of NATO's 30 allies believe that defeating Russia should be the priority.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania, on November 28, 2022. Robert Ghement / EFE

Blinken was expected to announce a batch of US aid for the Ukrainian power grid during the two-day summit, according to US officials.

The Ukrainian network has come under heavy Russian attack since early October, in what US authorities describe as a Russian campaign to exploit the cold of the impending winter.

“We are all paying a price for Russia's war against Ukraine.

But the price we pay is in money," Stoltenberg said Tuesday, "while the price Ukrainians pay is a price paid in blood."

[Ukraine retakes control of the city of Kherson after withdrawal of Russian troops]

The meeting in the Romanian capital was likely to include further pledges to support Ukraine for non-lethal hardware such as fuel, generators, medical supplies, winter gear and drone jamming devices.

The Allies were also likely to announce further deliveries of military equipment for Ukraine, especially the anti-aircraft defenses that kyiv desperately needed to protect its skies.

However, NATO as an organization would not do so to avoid being drawn into a broader war with Russia, a nuclear power.

The ministers were to have a working dinner on Tuesday with their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

On Wednesday they were scheduled to discuss ways to increase their support for Bosnia, Georgia and Moldova, partners authorities say are under Russian pressure.