Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha asked his colleagues in NATO, the Western military alliance, to invite the country to join the bloc during a meeting in Brussels next week, a letter to which the agency shows Reuters news section had access this Friday (29).
The document reflects Ukraine’s push to be invited into NATO, part of the “victory plan” detailed last month by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to end the war.
Ukraine says it accepts that it cannot join the alliance until the war is over, but that being invited now would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will not achieve one of his main objectives: preventing Ukraine from joining NATO.
“The invitation should not be seen as an escalation [das tensões]”, stated Sybiha.
“On the contrary, with a clear understanding that Ukraine’s entry into NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for maintaining this unjustified war,” he added.
“I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance, as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on December 3-4, 2024,” he concluded.
“Irreversible” Ukraine’s membership
NATO diplomats say there is currently no consensus among alliance members about inviting Ukraine. Any such decision would need unanimity among the 32 countries in the bloc.
The alliance declared that Ukraine will join the group and that this is “irreversible”, but did not formally invite it, nor did it set deadlines for this.
Olga Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister of Ukraine and responsible for NATO matters, stated that the country understands that the consensus for an invitation to join the group “does not yet exist”, but that the letter aims to send a strong political message.
“We send a message to allies that the invitation is not ruled out, regardless of manipulations and speculation,” he stated.
In the letter, Sybiha highlighted that the invitation would be the right response to “Russia’s constant escalation in the war it has provoked, the latest demonstration of this being the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a test site for new weapons.”
In recent days, however, diplomats have highlighted that they have not identified a change in stance among NATO countries, particularly while they await the stance of the United States, the alliance’s dominant power, under the government of President-elect Donald Trump.
Understand the War between Russia and Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and entered the territory from three fronts: through the Russian border, through Crimea and through Belarus, a country that is a strong ally of the Kremlin.
Forces loyal to President Vladimir Putin made significant advances in the first few days, but the Ukrainians managed to maintain control of Kiev, even though the city was also attacked. The invasion was criticized internationally and the Kremlin was the target of Western economic sanctions.
In October 2024, after thousands of deaths, the war in Ukraine entered what analysts describe as its most dangerous moment yet.
Tensions rose when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the use of an intermediate-range hypersonic missile during an attack on Ukrainian soil. The projectile carried conventional warheads, but is capable of carrying nuclear material.
The launch took place after Ukraine launched an offensive inside Russian territory using weapons manufactured by Western powers, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Western intelligence reports that Russia is using North Korean troops in the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang neither deny nor confirm the report.
President Vladimir Putin, who replaced his defense minister in May, has said that Russian forces are advancing much more effectively — and that Russia will achieve all of its objectives in Ukraine, although he did not elaborate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes Putin’s main goals are to occupy the entire Donbass region, encompassing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and to expel Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk region, which they have controlled parts of since August. .
This content was originally published in Ukraine asked NATO to invite membership next week, shows letter on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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