‘The President Still Believes That NATO Is In Ukraine’s Future’: Biden Admin Reaffirms Support

5 months ago

During Monday’s White House press briefing, Admiral John Kirby was asked about Ukraine’s admission into NATO.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you. John, thanks for doing this. First, just to follow up on the communique,

00:06even if you can't get into it, you're reversible. The President's objection last year,

00:11and Chancellor Schultz's objection, if I remember Vilnius correctly, was that neither one of them

00:17wanted a date set for fear, I assume, that the United States and its allies would be drawn into

00:24the ground, or if Ukraine was still at war while a NATO member. Does that remain today to be his

00:32primary objection? Is he willing to do wording that just is short of a date? Because even if

00:39you do the word irreversible or not, it doesn't really change the meaning very much of what you

00:47published in Vilnius. Can I have a second on just the level? I'll make this simple but

00:54unsatisfying. Again, I'm not going to get into the text and the discussions about what the draft's

01:00going to look like, David. I think you can understand that. But I do think your question

01:05is important to provide some context to. The President still believes that NATO is in Ukraine's

01:12future. What that future looks like depends on an awful lot of factors. Right now you've got a war

01:19going on inside Ukraine, and the focus rightly has got to be on helping them win that war.

01:23And we are, as I detailed in my opening statement. Number two, for any country that wants to join

01:28NATO – any country – and it's an alliance of democracies, democracies have to meet certain

01:36guidelines, particularly when it comes to governance. And we are and will continue to

01:41work with Ukraine on reforms that are necessary for any democracy that wants to be a member

01:46of NATO. And then the third thing I'd say is it's a unanimous vote. Everybody has to be on

01:51board with that, and that can take some time as well. So the focus is on making sure that they

01:55can win now and that we can continue to work with Ukraine so that there is a path to NATO.

02:00The last thing I'd say is back to the bilateral security agreement that the President signed with

02:06President Zelensky at the G7 in Italy. I mean, we're one of many other nations that have done

02:10that too, because we know that whenever this war ends, however it ends, and whatever the border

02:15looks like, Ukraine's still going to have a long border with Russia that's going to need to be

02:20defended, and they're going to need the reassurance of being able to put forth a capable and competent

02:27defensive capability against Russian forces going forward. And that's why we're making sure that

02:32there are things in line to make sure that Ukraine can defend itself.

02:36One follow-up. You mentioned that it was 10 years ago that the 2 percent GDP goal was set.

02:43Obviously, there was no war underway at that time, and so the entire security situation

02:49looks radically different than it does – than it did when that was set.

02:54Well, I beg to differ. There was fighting in Afghanistan, and Mr. Putin invaded Ukraine in

03:002014. In 2014, yeah. But I think the 2 percent may have been set – It was in Wales. It might

03:06have been set before the invasion, but nevertheless, it was still a tense security environment.

03:10Right. We're in something much different today. I think we're all in agreement,

03:14just given the amount of arms that's worth going in. So is part of the President's message

03:20at this summit that 2 percent is in the rearview mirror, that the NATO allies are going to have to

03:27be spending significantly more than that, maybe double that, for some countries, some larger

03:34economies? Or is he going to stay away from numbers? I know it's politically sensitive

03:40with all of them. You also – you mentioned the word win. I was wondering how you're defining that.

03:45Okay. There's a lot there. The President's not going to set a new bar or a new

03:51– a new level of GDP spending on defense here at this summit. The goal is 2 percent.

03:57It was a commitment everybody made 10 years ago. Not everybody's there. Most of the remaining

04:02nations that haven't reached 2 percent – most of them, not all – are working on it and are

04:09getting there. And so I think the President wants to focus on that, wants to laud and commemorate

04:15those who have, but also make it clear that those who haven't still have – they still have some

04:19work to do. On win, I think we've been consistent about this. I mean, at least I think I have. I

04:24mean, we want all of Ukraine's sovereign territory respected, which means we want no

04:33Russian forces in any part of Ukraine by the internationally recognized boundaries.

‘The President Still Believes That NATO Is In Ukraine’s Future’: Biden Admin Reaffirms Support

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