Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO in the George W. Bush administration, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the only way to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from expanding beyond Ukraine in eastern Europe is for the military alliance to make sure he knows Ukraine is not going to lose the war.
"It's in NATO's best interest to make clear to Putin that he's not going to win the war and that Ukraine will be secure and in the alliance in the future, because that is the thing that will deter him from future aggression," Volker told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" and guest host John Huddy. "We've seen already over the past year what happens when we don't deter Putin."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Lithuania this week for a NATO summit, pleading his case for his nation to join the alliance. NATO said one day Ukraine will be invited, but did not offer a timeline, angering Zelenskyy. Volker, a former U.S. representative to Ukraine in the Trump administration, said NATO should only invite Ukraine when the time is right, because offering one now could lead to a broader world war.
"This is why no one is saying Ukraine should be brought in today," Volker said. "Not even the most ardent supporters in NATO, Poland, or the Baltic states, are arguing that [Ukraine] should be brought in today because that would mean NATO having to join the war to fight against Russia, and that can escalate out of control, and nobody wants that.
"But we ought to be signaling that when conditions permit, whenever that is — we'll know it when we see it — they're going to join the alliance," he continued. "We need to be clear about that because that will then contribute to clarifying the situation and shortening the war. As Zelenskyy said, uncertainty or ambiguity in this case is only an encouragement for Putin to keep fighting."
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