"Twelve years of fairy tales": former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi says Ukraine will never join NATO

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, has said he does not believe Ukraine will ever become a member of NATO and argued that the country should instead focus on developing other security alliances.

Source: Zaluzhnyi during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv today, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zaluzhnyi made his remarks during a discussion among senior diplomats on Euro-Atlantic integration. Although he had been asked to comment on Ukraine's participation in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), he began by speaking about NATO.

Quote: "I know NATO very well. For about 12 years, I personally worked to ensure that we adopted NATO standards, and every year I listened to fairy tales that we were just about to join NATO. Unfortunately, we will never join!"

Details: Zaluzhnyi argued that one obstacle to Ukraine's NATO accession is that "it is impossible to join an organisation that is guided by World War II doctrines in light of the current capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces".

The ambassador was also highly critical of NATO's overall capabilities, despite countries such as the UK and the US being members. "Most likely, NATO will remain in its current form and will spend another 12 years, just as Ukraine did, transitioning to the standards required to reach even half of the Russian Federation's level," he said.

However, Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that "Ukraine needs technologies that NATO countries currently have", including in the fields of anti-ballistic defence, space and so on.

Regarding future security guarantees for Ukraine, he argued that other alliances than NATO could prove more effective: "Ukraine will align itself with blocs and alliances that are likely to emerge. Most probably, this will be a European military security bloc."

Zaluzhnyi also believes membership of the JEF is an effective security mechanism. "The JEF has had command-and-control structures in place since 2015. It's true that they are still weak, they are not yet at the level we need," he said, expressing regret that Ukraine is not working towards joining the JEF.

It is worth noting that the JEF does not currently entail collective defence mechanisms or mutual defence obligations among its members.

Background:

• Earlier, the 10 member states of the JEF signed a statement of intent to establish a multinational maritime force to act as a complement to NATO.
• Ukraine has already joined the agreement on enhanced partnership with the JEF.

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