Membership of NATO is not only a security guarantee for Ukraine, but also one possible route out of the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an online discussion at the YES conference, LB.ua reports.
“NATO is not only a security guarantee for Ukraine; it is also a way out of this situation,” Zelenskyy said, clarifying that he meant a way out of a protracted war.
According to the President, despite this, “the Ukrainian army is the most important security guarantee for Ukraine”. At the same time, he noted, Kyiv’s accession to the Alliance would also strengthen Europe: “There is no army this strong in Europe.”
Zelenskyy added that Ukraine’s membership of NATO also serves the interests of the United States itself, as Ukraine shares combat experience and technologies with its partners and also strengthens other Alliance countries.
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The President drew attention to uncertainty over the future US presence in Europe. “Will America increase its presence in Europe because of threats such as Russia, or will it reduce it?” he asked, adding: “So far, we do not see America increasing its presence in Europe.”
Zelenskyy also spoke about Russia’s position on security guarantees for Ukraine. According to him, in response to US and European proposals on guarantees for Kyiv, Moscow asks: “If Ukraine receives security guarantees, what will we get?”. In the President’s view, this indicates that Russia no longer feels as strong as it believed it was at the start of the war.
He added that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would, in effect, mean a guarantee for Russia that Kyiv would not try to retake the occupied territories by military means, but only through diplomacy. “The NATO question and the EU question may be one of the ways out of this terrible war,” Zelenskyy concluded.