Ukraine is unlikely to be invited to NATO at the upcoming meeting on December 3-4, according to Reuters.

NATO countries are likely to refrain from extending an official invitation to Ukraine for membership in the Alliance during the upcoming NATO foreign ministers' meeting scheduled for December 3-4, as reported by Reuters, citing several diplomats.

“It will take weeks and months to reach a consensus,” said an unnamed senior NATO diplomat to Reuters on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t see this happening tomorrow; I would be very surprised. Despite Ukraine's request to join the alliance, a senior U.S. official told Reuters that the meeting on December 3-4 will focus on ensuring that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position next year to ‘begin possible negotiations.’

“The best way to support Ukraine is to increase funding, ammunition, and mobilization,” the American official added.

In a conversation with the Financial Times on December 2, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that increasing military assistance to Ukraine ahead of potential peace talks is more important than the question of when Kyiv might be offered NATO membership.

“The most important thing right now is to ensure that when Zelensky decides to start peace negotiations, he can do so from a position of strength,” Rutte said to FT. “That is my number one priority at the moment.”

Rather than debating the timing of an invitation to Ukraine, Rutte added that “in the near future, the most crucial thing is to get your military assistance to Ukraine, particularly air defense, as well as offensive systems needed to conduct the war.”

Kyiv applied for NATO membership in September 2022, and in July 2024, the alliance reaffirmed “Ukraine’s irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership” – although Ukraine has not received any specifics regarding future accession.

On November 29, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha urged his NATO colleagues to extend an invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance during the meeting in Brussels.

“I urge you to support a decision to invite Ukraine to the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting on December 3-4,” Sybiha wrote at the time, highlighting the threat of Russian escalation due to the use of the new medium-range ballistic missile “Oreshnik,” as well as the involvement of North Korean troops.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky also suggested ending the “hot phase” of the war on Ukraine's eastern front in exchange for NATO membership.

According to him, the principle of collective defense under Article 5 of the alliance may not apply to Ukrainian territories where active hostilities are taking place if Ukraine joins NATO.