The ongoing debate over Ukraine's potential NATO membership.

Support is growing within NATO to ease Ukraine's pathway to membership, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggesting allies agree Ukraine could join NATO after the war without following a Membership Action Plan. President Joe Biden is "open" to the plan, and U.S. support goes a long way to waiving the MAP requirement during the alliance's July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. However, some southern Europeans fear that removing the MAP barrier would further anger Russia, potentially escalate the war and make rebuilding ties with Moscow after the war harder.