On June 16, the Helsinki Commission сommissioners, congressmen and senators published an official letter of appeal to Joe Biden to unite NATO partners around the USA at the upcoming summit in Vilnius to "ensure Ukraine receives a concrete and achievable pathway to NATO membership." This, according to the addressees, must be the minimum result following the summit. Congressmen say that this summit will be the most important since the Cold War and its task is to create a basis for building a new world with new tools to guarantee security.
"It is in that spirit that we urge that the United States should take a forward leaning position in Vilnius and beyond to ensure Ukraine has a concrete, near-term path to NATO membership as soon as conditions allow."
Congressmen report that Ukraine's victory in this war is a condition for long-term European security.
"Counting Ukraine as an Ally is also squarely in the Alliance's self-interest: Ukraine in NATO will be a premier military power and the only European state to have faced Russian forces on the field since the end of the Cold War — and won. Ukrainian membership will also be a powerful expression of our shared values and solidarity with a democratic, open society that has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of the unendurable."
Joe Wilson, Steve Cohen, Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, Mike Lawler, Richard Hudson, Lloyd Doggett, Lindsay Graham, Mike Quigley, Marcy Kaptur, Brian Fitzpatrick, Thomas H. Kean Jr and Sheila Jackson Lee state that the United States must take the lead in NATO's efforts to provide Ukraine with a "clear and achievable pathway to membership, alongside robust security commitments" before Ukraine becomes a member of the Alliance.
