Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato, Boris Johnson urges

Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato 'now', Boris Johnson has urged.

The former prime minister has said the move would be the 'single biggest step' the West could take to end Russia's war.

He admitted the United States and its allies would be alarmed about Ukraine joining the military alliance while fighting was ongoing.

It would mean all 32 Nato member states would have to commit to Ukraine's defence.

But writing in today's ­Spectator, he argues: 'The risk is that we continue with the ambiguity and indecision over the future of Ukraine that has led to the worst war in Europe in my lifetime.

'If we want peace, then we must put the Ukrainians in the strongest possible position, and this is how to do it.'

Ukraine has long sought membership of Nato and gained 'aspiring member' ­status in 2018, four years after Russia's annexation of Crimea, but not all western leaders have been enthusiastic.

Read More

Ukrainian kamikaze drone that ripped through Russian arms depot triggered NASA earthquake sensors

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky stepped up the demand in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion in early 2022. However, at a summit last year Nato leaders said Ukraine could join only once it had completed 'democratic and security sector reforms'.

At the time, Mr Johnson said there should have been a timetable for membership 'as soon as victory is won'. Now the former foreign secretary goes further, arguing: 'We could invite Ukraine to join before the war is even over.'

'We need to get Ukraine into Nato now, and I mean now,' he writes. He suggests the critical Article 5 security guarantee – which means an attack on one Nato member is seen as an attack on all – could be extended to cover territory currently controlled by Kyiv, while allies should also reaffirm the country's right to its borders.

'We could protect most of Ukraine, while simultaneously supporting the Ukrainian right to recapture the rest,' Mr Johnson writes, adding: 'This is the single biggest step we can take to bring this hideous war to an end.

'We would send the crucial message to the Kremlin, the one Russians really need to hear. The message is: that's it. It's over. You don't have an empire any more.'

He admits the decision depends above all on the US. Sir Keir Starmer said after a summit in Washington in July that Nato had 'confirmed Ukraine's irreversible path to full membership'.

Yet earlier this year, US President Joe Biden said he was 'not prepared to support the Nato-isation of Ukraine'.

Mr Johnson adds: 'We would all have to commit to the defence of that Ukrainian territory. And of course that will mean anxiety and resistance.'

He also renewed his call for Mr Biden and the Prime Minister to allow Ukraine to fire western Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, after talks last week between the pair failed to lead to a breakthrough.