US senator slams Ukraine president over NATO demands

The “ungrateful” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has received criticism from US Senator Rand Paul for pushing for Kyiv’s expedited NATO membership.

Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday: “We’ve given them $100 billion, and he has the audacity to be so brazen as to tell us we’d better speed it up… I’d say it’s not very grateful.”

He added that the Ukrainian president might need to reevaluate his complaints in order to maintain the goodwill of Western allies. “There’s an old English adage he might need to become aware of: Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” he said.

Paul made his remarks after Zelensky on Tuesday criticized NATO for its “absurd” lack of a timeline for Ukraine’s admission to the NATO military alliance.

read more: As UK back Ukraine quicker pathe to NATO, US, Germany kicks against it

Before Zelensky joined NATO leaders as a guest at the alliance’s summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, he said on the Telegram messaging app that “it’s unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.”

According to Zelensky, there doesn’t appear to be any willingness to either invite Ukraine to NATO or make it a member of the Alliance, citing the “vague wording about ‘conditions'” for Ukraine’s NATO membership.”

In its conflict with Russia, Kyiv has received logistical support from the US-led NATO military alliance, as well as a variety of lethal weapons.

Paul criticized Kyiv’s inability to negotiate with Russia and criticized Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Paul said, “I believe he sees no reason to have any negotiations as long as we continue to supply Zelensky with unlimited arms.” Therefore, I believe that by delaying negotiations, the Ukrainian people will ultimately lose out.”

According to the Washington Post on Tuesday, which cited an unnamed official familiar with the situation, the US delegation to the NATO summit in Vilnius expressed their “furious” position in response to Zelensky’s remarks.

The article noted that Zelensky’s criticism of the alliance “stands in stark contrast to the image of Western harmony that [US President Joe] Biden and his aides had been projecting” at the event.

According to a senior NATO official, the Ukrainian president’s “tweet puts pressure on the alliance” and also helps him “to say, ‘I am fighting to the end'” to the people of Ukraine.

Additionally, an unnamed senior diplomat from Central Europe told Politico that Zelensky “is going too far” with his criticism.

The Ukrainian president, continued, “I don’t think this is a thoughtful and fair approach.”
Giving Kyiv a deadline for joining the military alliance has been opposed by many NATO members, with the United States taking the lead in this debate.

US President Joe Biden has emphasized that there is no consensus among the NATO leaders to grant Kyiv membership while the conflict with Russia continues.

According to Biden, Kyiv’s accession to NATO could turn the organization directly against Russia in the proxy conflict against Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly said that the collective Western nations are engaged in a proxy war with Russia over Ukraine, warning that the conflict could escalate into a much bigger fight.

Additionally, Moscow is adamant that the US-led NATO forces and Russian forces cannot engage in a direct military conflict.
In order to defend the local pro-Russian community against repression by the Kyiv government, Russia launched its special military operation in the Donbas in February 2022. It claims that it also aims to “demilitarize and denazify” the former Soviet republic in an effort to halt NATO’s eastward expansion.

Until now, the US and its Western allies have continuously shipped weapons and ammunition to Kyiv, including rocket systems, drones, tanks, and armored vehicles, as well as communication systems and, perhaps in the future, F-16 fighter jets.

source rt.com