Biden may move to advance status of Ukraine’s NATO membership bid before leaving — FT

Outgoing US President Joe Biden may agree to fast-track Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance before leaving his post in January, a Western official told The Financial Times (FT), Report informs referring to TASS.

On October 12, Biden will host a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the British newspaper said.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy "will once again plead for permission to hit targets inside Russia with western-supplied munitions," the FT wrote.

According to the newspaper, Zelenskyy described October as "decision time."

Jens Stoltenberg, who stepped down as NATO secretary general, handing over to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1, said ahead of the alliance’s summit in Washington on July 9-11 that there was no consensus in the bloc regarding the admission of Ukraine as he said that Kyiv was only "moving closer to NATO membership."

However, the summit declaration welcomed the former Soviet republic "on its reversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration."

The US will hold a presidential election on November 5. On July 21, Biden decided to drop out of the race and endorsed US Vice President Harris to replace him. The Democratic Party officially nominated Harris in August. She is running against former US President Donald Trump.