Joe Kent’s op-ed shows that he has little understanding of any of the issues in the war in Ukraine. Firstly, NATO cannot admit a country that is at war. It would obligate NATO to implement Article 5 and actively engage in the war to defend the newly admitted country. None of the NATO countries are willing to do this.
Secondly, to say that Russia has a superior military is not borne out by the history of this war. Ukraine first stopped the February 2022 invasion that Putin intended would occupy all of Ukraine and install a puppet government in Kyiv. Ukraine is receiving military equipment from 51 countries whose combined economies dwarf the Russian economy, which is spiraling down. And Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making slow but steady progress against the Russian occupying forces that knowledgeable analysts like General David Petraeus and Max Boot say has a high likelihood of success.
Finally, Kent wants to impose a settlement on Ukraine that would sacrifice some of their territory and only embolden Putin. The Ukrainian people have freely decided to suffer the casualties required by the war in order to free their country from the Russian occupation. Kent wants to abandon them, hardly a moral stance.
