The presidents of nine NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries came together on Sunday to express their support for Ukraine’s membership bid and also to urge all allies to “substantially increase” their military support to Kyiv. The bloc’s chief, meanwhile, noted that the consent of all 30 NATO states is needed to grant Ukraine’s request to join.

The statement came just two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his country’s intention to apply for fast-track NATO membership.

War Approaches: Ukraine Applies For “Accelerated” NATO Membership

If Ukraine joins NATO, that will be crossing one of Russia’s “red lines” and could lead to a more aggressive war concerning more countries. Nonetheless, certain states seem fine with advancing a world war. “We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership,” the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia said. “We support Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories, and encourage all Allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine,” the statement said.

Russia Says Security Guarantees For Ukraine Are A “Prologue To Third World War”

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Zelensky’s NATO bid, emphasized that “any decision on membership has to be taken by consensus” of all 30 members. Stressing that NATO “has an open door policy,” Stoltenberg said that currently, the top priority of the bloc is “to support Ukraine,” both militarily and financially. He believes that this is also “the best way to respond” to Russia’s actions. –RT

Zelensky’s announcement of the NATO membership bid came on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties on the inclusion of two Donbass republics, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, into Russia.

Pope: The Russia-Ukraine War Is A “World War”

The United States seems apprehensive about the timing of Ukraine’s request to join NATO. The U.S. is committed to the “open door” policy when it comes to NATO, but now is the wrong time to consider Ukraine’s membership application, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.

Moscow, which considers the enlargement of NATO a direct threat to its national interests, cited Ukraine’s potential membership in the alliance as one of the reasons for its military offensive. That means that this was done as a way to further ignite a war that’s going to involve the whole world.