Report: France Flips to Favor Admitting Ukraine Into NATO

France reportedly has reconsidered its stance on Ukraine joining NATO, with Paris for the first time favoring Kyiv's admission to the 31-nation military alliance.

French newspaper Le Monde reported Tuesday the issue of Ukraine's admission to NATO was brought up during a Defense Council meeting in Paris on June 12.

France believes backing the warn-torn country's admission to the military alliance is a security guarantee because "it could discourage Russia from continuing the war or, should the conflict come to an end, prevent any further aggression."

Advancing Ukraine's membership into NATO while it is engaged in war with Russia will be among the key issues during a NATO summit July 11-12 in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday a formal invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance will not be made during the summit. 

France's stance on Ukraine and NATO is a departure from what President Emmanuel Macron said in December, according to Le Monde: "Ukraine's entry into NATO would be perceived by Russia as something confrontational. You can't imagine it with this kind of Russia."

But Ukraine is gaining support for membership among other NATO nations. Sky News reported Wednesday that Great Britain supports a fast track to NATO membership for Ukraine.

Also, it was reported last week that President Joe Biden, during a meeting with Stoltenberg at the White House, backed a plan in which the alliance would say Ukraine has made progress toward membership and won't need to complete the step-by-step Membership Action Plan (MAP) that other Eastern European members went through before joining.

Catherine Colonna, France's foreign minister, said her country was thinking along the same lines.

"I can see a possibility that the MAP is not any longer a stage of that route, that roadmap to accession," Colonna said, according to Sky News.

According to NATO, a MAP requires a candidate nation to make military and democratic reforms, with NATO's advice and assistance, before it determines whether the nation can be a member.

France was among many countries, including the U.S., Germany and Great Britain, reluctant to move beyond a commitment made in 2008 that Ukraine will one day become a member.

"We are a long way from 2008," Colonna said. "Time has passed; the situation is quite different."

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