World leaders are coming to Washington, D.C., during the week of July 7 for the annual NATO summit. The meeting will mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., will lead the congressional delegation. They will be tasked with ensuring the United States’ commitment to Ukraine’s security remains strong. The senators also want to ensure Ukraine remains on a path to EU and NATO membership, even if that will not happen anytime soon.
“You’re going to have to have people like me and others, the majority of our conference, saying we need to stand behind Ukraine,” Tillis told Punchbowl News.
Tillis said the U.S. must back Ukraine no matter who wins the presidential election in November.
Donald Trump claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. He also told members of Congress during a visit to Washington in June that he does not want to support foreign wars. There is a group of House Republicans who agree with him.
“He wants to see an end to the foreign wars and he’s committed to bringing back world peace,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said after the June meeting.
“He lamented the fact that we’re sending $60 billion to Ukraine and we’re not paying our troops more,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said. “So President Trump was explicitly a critic of the Ukraine aid and a supporter of the increases in pay for American troops.”
However, Tillis said he and many other Republicans want to continue supporting Ukraine.
“We need to lay the groundwork to say that, fundamentally, what Biden has negotiated and committed to makes sense, but every president has a right to review and consider possible enhancements and modifications,” Tillis told Punchbowl.
Tillis was referring to the 10-year security agreement President Biden signed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7.
Zelenskyy is actively pushing to enter the alliance, however it cannot happen while fighting continues. Shaheen said as much, telling Punchbowl, “As long as the war is active and unresolved, Ukraine is not going to be a member of NATO.”
This will be the first NATO summit for Sweden and Finland. The two countries joined as a direct result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
