Ukraine cannot join NATO, and Antony Blinken knows it

For someone who is as seasoned a diplomat as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is, the reckless rhetoric he displayed on Thursday was as disturbing as it was shocking.

After a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels on Thursday, Blinken told reporters that Ukraine was going to become a member of NATO without offering any qualifiers.

“Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership,” he said.

Kuleba followed up Blinken’s statement by saying, “Of course, we believe that Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO and that this should happen sooner rather than later.”

With the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia’s invasion in 2022, the prospect of the Eastern European nation joining the military alliance of Western Europe and the United States has dire implications.