As NATO leaders prepare to gather for a key summit in The Hague later this month, a conspicuous silence will hover over one of the most contentious and politically sensitive issues facing the alliance: Ukraine’s potential membership. According to an AFP report published on June 4, NATO officials, wary of inflaming a growing rift between the United States and European Union, have chosen to deliberately avoid the topic of Ukraine’s accession. This calculated silence marks a significant retreat from earlier, more assertive rhetoric regarding Kyiv’s future in the bloc, reflecting shifting political winds and widening divisions within the alliance.

Behind the scenes, diplomatic sources suggest that NATO’s final summit declaration will make no mention of Ukraine’s membership aspirations. “There will be nothing on that,” one NATO diplomat told AFP, emphasizing that the alliance prefers to be “absolutely silent” on the matter. The move appears to be a strategic attempt to avoid publicly exposing growing divisions, particularly as European NATO members and Washington grapple with differing visions of the alliance’s role in Eastern Europe and its long-term posture toward Russia.

This approach is a departure from previous summits, where strong statements were made affirming Ukraine’s path toward eventual NATO membership. While those statements were largely symbolic, they served as a source of diplomatic support for Kyiv and a warning to Moscow. The current decision to omit any such language underscores the complex dynamics now reshaping NATO’s internal politics, especially as the United States enters a volatile........

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