At last, someone has openly given a realistic assessment of this absurd circus involving NATO, which, in my view, includes at least two traitors.
We are not going to become a NATO member because NATO does not meet Ukraine's standards. I believe a system of bilateral agreements with countries that genuinely share our risks and will not waste our time with their inadequacies is a far more sensible approach.
In addition, Ukraine should have an alliance with the United States based on principles similar to those governing U.S.-Israel relations. I would not rule out the possibility that the United States could eventually abandon NATO as an obsolete institution and instead rely more heavily on Ukraine as one of its strategic pillars in Eurasia. At least, everything appears to be moving in that direction. But much depends on our own initiative and the development of our domestic defense industry. That is the foundation of our statehood and our economic development.
Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said he does not see any prospect of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made the remarks during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors in Kyiv, according to European Pravda.
Zaluzhnyi was speaking at the gathering of senior diplomats when he was asked to comment on Ukraine's participation in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
"I know NATO very well. For about twelve years, I personally worked to ensure that we adopted NATO standards, and every year I listened to fairy tales that we were just about to join NATO. Unfortunately, we are never going to become a member," Zaluzhnyi said.
He argued that one of the main obstacles to membership is the gap between the capabilities of Ukraine's Defense Forces and those of the Alliance, which, in his words, "operates according to Second World War doctrines." He suggested that NATO would remain largely unchanged and would need a long time to adapt to the standards that, he said, "are necessary just to reach at least half the level of the Russian Federation."
At the same time, Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that Ukraine still needs technologies currently possessed by NATO countries, particularly in the fields of space capabilities and defense against ballistic missiles.
He said he considers other alliances to be more effective than NATO. According to him, Ukraine will focus on future security groupings that may emerge, most likely a European military security bloc. He also described membership in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) as an effective security guarantee mechanism and expressed regret that Ukraine is not actively pursuing accession, while noting that the organization's governing structures remain relatively weak.
