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After he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and before he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, President Donald Trump issued a pointed statement on Truth Social.

"President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," he wrote.

"NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE," Trump declared.

Trump is right to keep Ukraine out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

When the Senate ratified the treaty that created NATO in 1949, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Thomas Connally (D-Texas) explained its purpose and membership requirements.

"It is specified in the treaty that this government and other signers of the treaty shall follow democratic processes -- not always the same way, but they follow their constitutional requirements of their respective countries," he said on the Senate floor.

"It is the purpose of this treaty to permit free nations to preserve their freedom against invasion and aggression by those who would seek to overthrow their freedoms and substitute slavery and chains," Connally said.

The key provision in the NATO treaty is Article 5. It states that: "The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and ... will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith ... such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the Atlantic area."

This was particularly aimed at deterring the Soviet Union, which had imposed communist regimes on the countries of Eastern Europe

NATO originally had only 12 members. Since then, it has grown to 32.

But when the Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989, even Poland -- the homeland of St. John Paul II, who had partnered with President Ronald Reagan in forcing the collapse of the Soviet empire -- was not immediately admitted to NATO. In fact, it was not until 1999 -- two years after it adopted its current republican constitution -- that Poland was admitted to NATO.

At a 2022 summit, the heads of the governments of the NATO countries released a statement reiterating the fundamental purpose of the alliance. It said: "We remain steadfast in our resolve to protect our one billion citizens, defend our territory and safeguard our freedom and democracy."

Is Zelenskyy's Ukraine the sort of constitutionally free and democratic country that NATO, as described by Sen. Connally, was created to defend?

Not as of now.

Zelenskyy was initially elected to a five-year term as president of Ukraine in 2019. Then, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Zelenskyy declared martial law -- under which, according to the Ukrainian constitution, no elections can take place.

That state of martial law continues to this day, and Zelenskyy continues as Ukraine's president six years after his only election.

The State Department published its 2024 report on human rights in Ukraine this month. It did not paint a bright picture of Zelenskyy's martial-law government.

"Significant human rights issues involving Ukrainian government officials," the report said, "included credible reports of: torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom; including violence or threats of violence against journalists, and censorship; systematic restrictions on workers' freedom of association; and the significant presence of any of the worst forms of child labor.

"Some of these human rights issues stemmed from martial law, which continued to curtail democratic freedoms due to wartime conditions, including freedom of the press and legal protections," said the report.

"The government often did not take adequate steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses," it said.

A government that behaves like this cannot join an alliance of free and democratic countries.

After meeting Monday with Zelenskyy and the leaders of NATO allies including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland and Italy, Trump suggested that some of our European allies may put troops in Ukraine as a security guarantee for that country following a possible peace agreement with Russia. But the United States will not put troops on the ground -- and Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO.

In an interview with "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday, Trump explained why his administration and our European allies have a different approach to this.

"They are consumed far more with this than we are because they're right there," said Trump. "We have an ocean that is separating us."

"And they don't," he said.

"It's a different kind of a thing for them," he said. "When it comes to security, they're willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you can talk about by air because there's nobody has the kind of stuff we have."

"But I think if a deal is made ... there will be some form of security," said Trump. "It can't be NATO because that's just not something that would ever, ever happen. You couldn't do that. Who would want that?"

Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress has approved $174 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

Adding Ukraine to NATO would not increase our national security, but it could increase our national debt.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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