Biden: Ukraine not ready for NATO membership

In an exclusive CNN interview that aired Sunday, Biden said, "I don't think it's ready for membership in NATO.

“I don't think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war. "I think we have to lay out a rational path for Ukraine to be able to qualify to be able to get into NATO." 

Biden thought it was "premature to say, to call for a vote, you know, in now, because there's other qualifications that need to be met, including democratisation and some of those issues." He affirmed "we're determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory.

It's a commitment that we've all made, no matter what. If the war is going on, then we're all in a war. You know, we're at war with Russia, if that were the case." Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC network that the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania is "very important. If there is no unity regarding the technical invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance, it's all a matter of political will just to find the proper wording and invite Ukraine." He added "it would be an important message to say that NATO is not afraid of Russia." "Ukraine should get clear security guarantees while it is not in NATO. And that is a very important point. Only under these conditions our meeting would be meaningful. Otherwise, it's just another politics," he noted.