Seven NATO countries are slow-walking Ukraine’s bid for a NATO invitation, Politico says. Russian forces executed four Ukrainian war prisoners near Selydove in Donetsk region. The U.S. should consider taking “direct military action” if North Korean troops enter the war in Ukraine, a House member says.
Seven NATO countries are slow-walking Ukraine’s bid for a NATO invitation, Politico says
Seven NATO member states are slow-walking Ukraine’s bid for an invitation to join the Alliance, according to Politico.
Germany and the U.S. are among the major powers slow-walking Zelenskyy’s call for an immediate invitation to join NATO, according to four U.S. and NATO officials and diplomats who were granted anonymity to share the latest internal discussions.
Hungary and Slovakia are also resisting, but they come from a different starting point. Their current populist leaders take a generally pro-Kremlin line. There are also other countries not keen on moving rapidly on Kyiv’s request, but content to hide in the shadows.
“Countries like Belgium, Slovenia or Spain are hiding behind the U.S. and Germany. They are reluctant,” said one of the NATO officials. A second official said that countries “support it in the abstract but once it gets closer to materializing” they will start to balk at the idea more publicly.
However, the officials who spoke to Politico sought to underline that neither the U.S. nor Germany are ruling out Ukraine’s eventual accession to the alliance.
An immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO is the first point of the victory plan that Zelenskyi presented to EU leaders in Brussels last week.
Ukraine will become NATO’s 33rd or 34th member “in the future”, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels last week.
NATO officials said they did not expect an invitation to Ukraine anytime soon. “We are not at the point right now where the Alliance is talking about issuing an invitation [to Ukraine] in the short term,” U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, Julianne Smith told journalists on October 16.
Ukraine is asking for a NATO membership invitation before Joe Biden leaves the White House, arguing it would be a fitting legacy for the U.S. president, Ukraine’s ambassador to NATO, Natalia Galibarenko told Reuters.
Russian forces execute four Ukrainian war prisoners near Selydove in Donetsk region
Russian forces executed four Ukrainian National Guard service members taken prisoner near Selydove in Donetsk region, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said in a statement on Thursday.
On October 6, Russian forces captured Ukrainian positions near the city of Selydove and took prisoner four National Guard service members. The Russians interrogated the wounded and unarmed soldiers and filmed it.
On October 7, Ukrainian troops retook the positions from Russia and came across the soldiers’ remains.
The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office is investigating the case as a violation of laws and customs of war and premeditated murder.
At least 102 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been executed by Russia since the invasion, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said on October 14.
Around 80 per cent of Ukraine POW executions took place throughout 2024, head of the War Crimes Department at the Office of the Prosecutor General, Yuriy Belousov said on national television on October 4. The number of known executions at the time of him speaking was 93.
U.S. should consider taking “direct military action” if North Korean troops enter war in Ukraine, House member says
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chair, Republican Mike Turner on Wednesday said the U.S. should consider taking “direct military action” if North Korean troops enter the war in Ukraine, according to The Hill.
“The Biden-Harris Administration must make clear that North Korean troops entering this conflict are a red line for the United States,” Turner said in a statement.
“If North Korean troops were to invade Ukraine’s sovereign territory, the United States needs to seriously consider taking direct military action against the North Korean troops,” he added.