Ukraine wants to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization soon after securing a military victory over Russia, and hopes to receive guarantees that this will happen during the NATO summit in Vilnius this July.
Source: Volodymyr Havrylov, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, in an interview with Politico
Details: Havrylov said that NATO should provide Ukraine with a list of steps to be taken to ensure its accession, "with a clear confirmation that Ukraine is a legitimate candidate" for NATO membership.
"We would like to hear the plan or roadmap, or a list of actions to be done by both sides – NATO and Ukraine – to achieve the membership in a very short period of time," Havrylov said.
Havrylov recognised that Ukraine cannot accede to NATO while the war is ongoing, but said that "at the same time, we have to understand that after our victory, our process of [joining] the bloc will be very, very short."
Havrylov explained that in the meantime, Ukraine will negotiate a "system of security guarantees" with NATO during a transitional period before membership. This will include NATO countries committing to help Ukraine win the war, supporting the Ukrainian economy, and supporting sanctions and other forms of putting pressure on Russia.
Previously: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he understands that Ukraine cannot accede to NATO with the war still ongoing, but sees no reason to take part in the NATO summit in Vilnius if Ukraine will not receive concrete indications regarding when it would be able to join the Alliance.
Kyiv has said that it is preparing to discuss two sets of issues during the NATO summit: political and practical.
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dandaman910 on June 4th, 2023 at 18:41 UTC »
How can NATO give such a guarantee. Hungary and Turkey would have to sign off on it.
Trout-Population on June 4th, 2023 at 18:35 UTC »
I don't think Hungary will go for that.
ledow on June 4th, 2023 at 17:45 UTC »
I'm not sure they can promise that.
I think all they can promise is the usual... if you meet the criteria, we will take your application seriously.
You can't guarantee membership to NATO, it doesn't work like that.
That said, as far as I'm concerned, as a citizen of a NATO country, I would be mighty pissed if NATO ever hinders or blocks such membership once the dust settles. There might be some pissant country temporarily objecting to try to get its own advantage (e.g. as with Finland/Sweden accession), but fuck, if that wouldn't make them look at their own rules requiring EVERYONE in NATO to agree (that's always been a dumb way to manage anything like that).