NATO to drop major hurdle for Ukrainian membership, but reforms still needed - En attendant Godot

NATO is set to drop a major hurdle to Ukraine’s bid for membership in the alliance, a Western official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the allies “are set” to drop the Membership Action Plan requirement for Ukraine’s application.

“MAP is just one of the steps in the NATO accession process though so even with its removal, Ukraine will still need to complete further reforms before joining NATO,” the official said.

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 The Kremlin said Monday that Ukraine’s NATO membership would have “very negative” consequences for European security, ahead of the alliance’s summit in Lithuania this week.

“Ukraine’s membership in NATO would have very, very negative consequences for the entire security architecture in Europe, which is already half destroyed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.