An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kiev’s control would end the “hot phase of the war” in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should extend to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. . He said in a radio interview.
Zelensky’s comments on Friday point to a possible way forward for Ukraine’s difficult path to future NATO membership. At their summit in Washington in July, the 32 member states declared that Ukraine was on an “irreversible” path to membership. But one obstacle to moving forward is the view that Ukraine’s borders will need to be clearly demarcated before it can join the alliance, so that there is no doubt about where the alliance’s mutual defense agreement might come into force.
“You cannot extend an invitation to only one part of the country,” the Ukrainian president said in an excerpt from the interview with Sky News. “Why? Because this way you will realize that Ukraine is only one territory that belongs to Ukraine and the other is Russia.”
“Therefore, from a legal standpoint, we have no right to recognize the occupied territories as Russian territory,” he added.
Since the start of the war in 2022, Russia has expended massive amounts of weapons and human life to make small but steady territorial gains in the roughly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls in eastern and southern Ukraine.
He added: “If we want to stop this hot phase of the war, we must take under the umbrella of NATO the territory of Ukraine that we control. This is what we must do, quickly. Then Ukraine can regain the other part of its territory diplomatically.”
Inviting Ukraine to join NATO is one of the main points of Zelensky’s “Victory Plan”, which he presented to Western allies and the Ukrainian people in October. The plan is seen as a way for Ukraine to strengthen its position in any negotiations with Moscow.
Earlier this week, NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance “needs to go further” to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. Military aid to Kiev and steps toward ending the war are expected to be high on the agenda when NATO members’ foreign ministers meet in Brussels for a two-day meeting starting on December 3.
However, any decision for Ukraine to join the military alliance will require a longer process and approval by all member states.
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There is also uncertainty about President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy stance. While Trump pledged during his campaign to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine in one day, he has not publicly discussed how this might happen. Trump also announced Wednesday that 80-year-old Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, will be his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
In April, Kellogg wrote that “ending the Russia-Ukraine war will require America First’s strong leadership to reach a peace agreement and immediately end hostilities between the warring parties.”
Meanwhile, during his only election debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war — raising concerns that Kiev could be forced to accept unfavorable terms in any negotiations.
Zelensky’s statement comes as Ukraine faces increasing pressure along the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line. In its latest report, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday that Russian forces recently advanced near Kobyansk, in Turetsk, and near Pokrovsk and Velika Novoselka, a major logistical route for the Ukrainian army.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced on Saturday that the country was attacked by ten Russian drones, eight of which were shot down over the regions of Kiev, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson. One of the drones returned to Russian-occupied territory, while the last plane disappeared from radar, often a sign of the use of electronic defenses.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the country’s air defense systems shot down 11 Ukrainian drones. Both the mayor of Sochi, Andrei Prochunin, and the head of Russia’s Dagestan region, Sergei Melikov, both in southwestern Russia, said drones had been destroyed in their regions overnight. No injuries were reported.
On Friday, the Ukrainian president announced a number of changes in military leadership, saying changes in personnel management were necessary to improve the situation on the battlefield.
General Mykhaylo Drabati, who led the defense of Kharkiv during the new Russian offensive on Ukraine’s second-largest city this year, has been appointed as the new commander of Ukraine’s ground forces. Oleh Apostol was appointed as the new Deputy Commander-in-Chief responsible for improving military training.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Sirsky also announced on Friday that he would reinforce units in Donetsk, Pokrovsk and Korakhovye with additional reserves, ammunition, weapons and military equipment.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
