“Don’t believe the fairy tales – Ukraine will never become a member of NATO,” said Zaluzhny
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Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Ukraine’s path to NATO membership is not promising; the obstacle is that “it is impossible to join an organization based on World War II doctrines with the level of development currently seen in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Valeriy Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, made this statement during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv, according to “European Truth.”
I know NATO very well. For about 12 years, I personally worked to ensure that we adopted NATO standards and listened every year to stories about how we were about to join NATO any day now. Unfortunately, we will never join it!
Valeriy Zaluzhny Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In his view, the obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance is that “it is impossible to join – at the current level of development of the Ukrainian Armed Forces… – an organization that adheres to World War II-era doctrines.”
Most likely, NATO will remain in its current form, and it will take Ukraine about 12 years to transition to the standards required to at least reach half the level of the Russian Federation.
Valeriy Zaluzhny Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom
At the same time, Zaluzhny acknowledged that “Ukraine needs technologies that are currently still available in NATO countries,” including those related to anti-ballistic defense and space capabilities.
He added that, in the context of security guarantees for Ukraine, he considers other alliances – not NATO – to be effective.
Ukraine… will align itself with blocs and alliances that are likely to form. Most likely, we will be talking about a European military security bloc.
Valeriy Zaluzhny Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom
As a reminder, according to U.S. Ambassador to NATO Vitaker, an agreement with Ukraine on the joint production of Patriot missiles will not be concluded until winter.
Author
Olexander Iliushchenkov Deputy Editor-in-Chief
All materialsHe studied at the School of Journalism at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. He has been working in journalism since the early 2010s. He has worked for the publications "Rakurs," 112.ua, "Ukraine World News," and "Novyny. Live."