Ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain Valeriy Zaluzhnyi stated that he does not see prospects for Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces shared this during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv, as reported by “European Pravda.”
Zaluzhnyi spoke at the event for top diplomats when asked to comment on Ukraine’s participation in the JEFJEF (Joint Expeditionary Force) is a military alliance of Northern European states, established in 2014 and led by Great Britain, created for rapid crisis response. It comprises 10 countries: Great Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. coalition (Joint Expeditionary Force).
“I know NATO very well. For about twelve years, I personally worked on us mastering NATO standards and listened to fairy tales every year about how we would soon join NATO. We will never join it, unfortunately,” said Zaluzhnyi.
He identified the gap between the development level of Ukraine’s Defense Forces and the bloc, which he claims “possesses World War II doctrines,” as an obstacle to accession. He suggested that the Alliance would remain as it is and would be forced to adapt for a long time to standards that “need to be achieved to be even half as good as the Russian Federation.” Despite this, Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that Ukraine needs technologies currently available to the bloc’s countries, particularly in the areas of space capabilities and ballistic missile defense.
He stated that he considers other alliances more effective than NATO. According to him, Ukraine will focus on blocs that may form in the future, most likely a European military security bloc. He identified membership in the JEF coalition as an effective mechanism for security guarantees and expressed regret that Ukraine is not working towards joining it, although he noted that the organization’s management bodies are currently weak.
The irreversibility of Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic course has been enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution of Ukraine since 2019.
Source: suspilne.media