Ukraine’s former top military commander, now ambassador to Britain, was quoted as saying on Monday that there was no prospect of the country joining NATO, an aspiration entrenched in the constitution.
– Valery Zaluzhnyi, quoted by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, told a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met the military standards needed to join the alliance.
– “I know NATO really well. For about 12 years, I personally worked on making sure we met NATO standards, and every year I heard tales about how we would join NATO any day now,” Evropeiska Pravda quoted him as telling the meeting.
– “Unfortunately, we will never actually join.”
– Zaluzhnyi said it was “impossible with the level of development that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have … to join an organisation guided by World War II doctrines”.
– Ukraine needed the technology “already in use in NATO member-states, including anti-missile defence, space capabilities etc“, he was quoted as saying.
– Ukraine has enshrined in its constitution a strategic goal of membership of NATO and the European Union. It has, however, acknowledged that currently it would not be welcomed into NATO by all its members.
– Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as Ukraine’s top commander in 2024 over differences with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on conducting the war with Russia, now well into its fifth year.
– Opinion surveys on voter trust put him roughly on a par with Zelenskiy and with former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, sacked as defence minister last month. Zaluzhnyi’s successor as top commander was also dismissed last month.
– Russia has rejected out of hand any notion of Ukrainian membership of NATO.