Politico wrote that seven countries oppose Ukraine's invitation to NATO: Zelenskyy's office commented

Seven member states of the North Atlantic Alliance oppose Ukraine's invitation to join the bloc. These include the United States, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office responded to this information and assured that it was not true.

According to journalists, Germany and the United States are among the main countries that are in no hurry to respond to the call of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to immediately receive an invitation to join NATO. This was reported by Politico, citing four US and NATO officials and diplomats.

Washington and Berlin, as noted, are concerned about the possibility of being drawn into a war with Russia.

Hungary and Slovakia also oppose the invitation to Ukraine, but for a different reason – their current leaders are pro-Russian. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is blocking EU funding for arming Ukraine and withdrawing from the NATO program to send military aid to Kyiv. And Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recently warned that Ukraine's accession to NATO "would be a good basis for a third world war" and said he would "never agree" to it.

The media outlet writes that there are other countries that "are not eager to respond quickly to Kyiv's request, but prefer to remain in the shadows."

"Countries like Belgium, Slovenia, or Spain are hiding behind the United States and Germany. They don't want to," said one NATO official. A second official of the bloc said that countries "support it in the abstract, but as soon as it gets closer to being implemented," they will start to more publicly oppose the idea.

This puts them at odds with countries such as the Baltics and Poland, which favor "opening up the NATO perspective to Ukraine." But these countries have to "give way to the united front of Berlin and Washington."

At the same time, Politico writes that officials "tried to emphasize" that neither the United States nor Germany has ruled out Ukraine's possible accession to NATO.

One NATO official told reporters that the administration of US President Joe Biden is confident that most European capitals will not support Ukraine's invitation to join the bloc in the short term. In any case, the decision will be linked, in particular, to the necessary reforms to combat corruption in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy emphasized that such rumors are beneficial to those who want to give the false impression that Ukraine's accession does not have broad support among NATO members. The president's spokesman, Serhii Nikiforov, told OBOZ.UA. According to him, the idea of inviting Ukraine to join NATO is supported by the vast majority of members of the military bloc. Nikiforov emphasized that work is underway with the rest of the states on this issue.

"The information in the media that 7 countries oppose Ukraine's invitation to NATO is not true. These rumors are beneficial to those who want to create a false impression that Ukraine's accession is not widely supported by the Alliance members. In fact, the idea of inviting Ukraine is supported by the vast majority of member states, and active advocacy work is underway for the rest," Zelenskyy's spokesman said.

In addition, Nikiforov emphasized that inviting Ukraine to NATO is the first point of the Victory Plan because only our country's accession to the Alliance guarantees a reliable path to a just and lasting peace.

"Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented the Plan to international partners, the Ukrainian parliament and community, media and civil society representatives, and is consolidating their efforts to bring Ukraine's invitation to NATO closer," Nikiforov said.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the head of the US mission to NATO, Julian Smith, said that the Alliance is not ready to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join. The US intends to continue bringing Ukraine closer to NATO, despite the current position.

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