![Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul offered rare praise for President Joe Biden on Tuesday after Biden and other leaders agreed not to let Ukraine join NATO. [Screenshot Fox News]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-11-at-4.15.02-PM-e1689106563306.png "Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul offered rare praise for President Joe Biden on Tuesday after Biden and other leaders agreed not to let Ukraine join NATO. [Screenshot Fox News]")
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul offered rare praise for President Joe Biden on Tuesday after Biden and other leaders agreed not to let Ukraine join NATO.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly called for a concrete roadmap for admission to NATO. Member states agreed to waive the Membership Action Plan requirement for NATO admission and announced a multi-year security assistance program, but did not provide a fixed timeline.
“This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step process to a one-step process,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference. Members “will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Zelenskyy called the decision “absurd,” prompting Paul to fire back while on Fox News. (RELATED: ‘Sheer Lunacy’: 2024 GOP Candidates Oppose Adding Ukraine To NATO – At Least For Now)
“There’s an old English adage that he might need to become aware of: never look a gift horse in the mouth. We have given him $100 billion and he has the audacity to be so brazen, to say we better speed it up. I’d say that’s audacious, it’s brazen, I’d say it’s not very grateful for the $100 billion that we’ve given them so far,” Paul said.
“Putting them in NATO at this moment, I agree with President Biden, I don’t agree with Biden on a lot but Biden’s right. Were we to put them in NATO now, both Biden and many other foreign policy experts said putting them in now would guarantee we have an active role in the war in Ukraine more than just supplying arms but actually sending troops and an obligation to do so. It would be a huge mistake and I hope saner minds will prevail.”
Paul said he sees “no end to the war” unless there is a “negotiated settlement” which he claims Zelenskyy won’t have any reason to have if the U.S. keeps supplying unlimited arms.
“I think we’re putting off negotiations, but ultimately the losers are the Ukraine people,” Paul said, adding the issue would play big in the 2024 race.