German chancellor says Ukraine 'cannot currently meet' NATO membership requirements

As the G7 meeting was brought to an end in Japan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that Ukraine still does not qualify to join the NATO alliance. While Ukraine would like to become part of the alliance, there are several hurdles that are currently keeping it from doing so - one of which is that the country cannot actively be engaged in a war.

While the meeting was successful, with the Ukrainian leader securing $375 million more of American taxpayer dollars to fend off Russia, it does not appear that Zelensky is anywhere close to securing membership in NATO, per Breitbart. The report also mentioned that Ukraine has also managed to get the go-ahead from Washington to supply American-made F-16 fighter jets to the country. However, it is unclear if a peace deal was discussed during the meeting over the weekend.

Scholz also said: “Now it’s about supporting Ukraine, defending its country. For the future, there will also be talk about security guarantees, that is clear. These security guarantees include the question of how strongly we will equip Ukraine with weapons in the future. After the war, Ukraine will be equipped with weapons of Western production.

“It is also clear that we then have to discuss which security guarantees can be given in a post-war situation. But we are far from there yet. Now we are concentrating on what is coming up.”

The report noted that if Ukraine were to join NATO, it would require that all other member states would go to war on behalf of the small, Eastern European country. Scholz said that “NATO’s criteria include a whole series of conditions that Ukraine cannot currently meet.”

The Pew Research Center recently released a report, suggesting that most Americans view NATO and Ukraine in a possible light, whereas Americans view Russia as the enemy. However, the same report suggested that Americans have expressed mixed confidence in two of NATO’s most prominent leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Scholz. The research went on to note that 35 percent of Americans had never even heard of Germany’s leader, whereas 24 percent said that they had never heard of Macron.