Granting Ukraine a NATO membership whereas the nation is locked in a battle with Russia is “dangerous for everybody” and will result in a world conflict, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has mentioned.

Speaking on the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Tajani reiterated that NATO is “working on having Ukraine as a member,” however must act discreetly and as a substitute of constructing rash choices correctly “pave the way for achieving these goals.”

“Frankly speaking, it’s dangerous for everybody because you are fighting against Russia and for a full member of NATO this would mean World War III,” mentioned the minister whereas responding to a query about Ukraine’s potential integration into the bloc.

“We want to back you, but these rules are very clear – if there is an attack against a member of NATO, there is an involvement of NATO and for this we need to be prudent,” he defined, including that the present state of cooperation between the US-led bloc and Kiev “sends a clear message to Russia.”

NATO first declared that Ukraine would take part 2008. After a Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine ramped up engagement with the alliance, enshrining membership in its structure as a strategic aim in 2017. In Autumn 2022 it formally utilized to hitch NATO after 4 of its former areas overwhelmingly voted to grow to be a part of Russia.

In a NATO summit in Vilnius final yr, the NATO Foreign Ministers acknowledged that  Ukraine must implement “additional democratic and security sector reforms” in an effort to be a part of the bloc saying that the invitation will solely be prolonged “when Allies agree and conditions are met.”

While the matter is predicted to be mentioned additional on the summit in Washington DC subsequent July, Foreign Policy journal reported final month that Washington and Berlin oppose the thought for worry of a possible full-scale confrontation with Moscow.

Russia views NATO enlargement in the direction of its border as a significant safety risk. President Vladimir Putin argued that Western powers had used Ukraine to antagonize Russia after the autumn of the Soviet Union. In a latest interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin known as the West’s strategy to Ukraine a colossal political mistake, pointing to NATO’s 2008 promise to just accept the nation into the bloc, in addition to the Western-supported coup d’etat in Kiev in 2014.