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President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that the parts of Ukraine under his control should be taken “under the NATO umbrella” to try and stop the “hot phase” of the war.
In a long, wide-ranging interview, the Ukrainian president was asked whether he would accept NATO membership, but only on the territory that Kyiv currently holds.
Zelensky said he would, but only if NATO membership was offered to the whole of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders, first.
Ukraine could then attempt to negotiate the return of territory currently under Russian control “in a diplomatic way,” he said.
But the suggestion is highly theoretical. As Zelensky pointed out, no-one has yet made such an offer. Whether NATO would ever consider such a move is highly doubtful.
“Ukraine has never considered such a proposal, because no-one has officially offered it to us,” Zelensky said.
NATO would need to offer membership to the whole country, including those parts currently under Russian control, he said.
“You can’t give an invitation to just one part of a country,” the president said, “Why, because thus, you would recognise that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine, and the other one is Russia.”
Lots of people were proposing ceasefires, he said, but without a mechanism to prevent Russia from attacking again, ceasefires were simply too dangerous.
Only NATO membership, he said, could offer that kind of guarantee.
The Ukrainian president has already said that he thinks the war could end in the coming year if Ukraine’s allies show sufficient resolve.
Reports suggest that discussion of the so-called West German model NATO membership offered to a divided country has been going on in Western circles for more than a year.
But no formal proposals have yet been made.
While on the campaign trail, US President-elect Trump vowed to end the war within “24 hours.”
Those around him, like Vice President-elect JD Vance, have signalled that will mean compromises for Ukraine, likely in the form of giving up territory in the Donbas and Crimea.
Zelensky has said himself Kyiv would like to end the war through “diplomatic means” in 2025.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has occupied territory in the country’s east.
But it is also worth noting that so far Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has given absolutely no indication that he’s abandoned his desire to subjugate Ukraine entirely.
The idea that he would be willing to allow any part of Ukraine to join NATO is, for now, unthinkable.
All the indications so far suggest that any involvement of NATO is a complete non-starter.
On Thursday, Moscow mounted its second mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in less than two weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a response to “continued attacks” using US-supplied Atacms missiles on Russian soil.
Having already endured two-and-a-half bitter winters since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainians are bracing themselves for another.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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