Zelensky: ‘Ukraine’s membership in NATO will stop Russia’

By Boyko Nikolov

PANAGYURISHTE, (BM) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants Ukraine to be accepted as a NATO member sooner. He shared this on his Twitter account, adding that his country will continue its commitments to modernize the army.

The French military publication opex360.com writes that the United States and the European Union are in solidarity and pay serious attention to what is happening in recent weeks in the region. According to the French, it is time for NATO to show its solidarity and take more decisive action for Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia are growing every day. Russia has already deployed significant troops in three key border areas – Ukraine, Donbas, and Crimea. We received information 24 hours ago that the S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems will also join them.

Simultaneously, the Pentagon has raised the threat level of its troops in Europe by alerting them to a “potential inevitable crisis.” Moscow denies that Russia’s actions are anything more than relocating forces to different parts of the country, a fundamental right of any country.

NATO is a decision, but it is being taken slowly

NATO is a solution for Ukraine. It is not the first attempt by an Eastern European country to join the North Atlantic Alliance. In 2008, the Alliance rejected Ukraine’s proposal for NATO membership after resistance from France and Germany. Today, both sides are participating in negotiations on the current crisis in the country.

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“NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbas,” the Ukrainian president argued after meeting with Mr. Stoltenberg. “The membership action plan will be a real signal for Russia,” he insisted.

Before joining NATO, a candidate country must first integrate a “Membership Action Plan” [MAP], a type of roadmap that Kyiv must follow carefully. This MAP presupposes reforms in the political, legal, economic, and, of course, military spheres.

However, this step does not guarantee that membership has been acquired. Ukraine and NATO established cooperation as early as 1994 with the admission of Kyiv to the Partnership for Peace [PPP] program.

Since then, this cooperation has grown steadily. And in June last year, Ukraine received the status of a “new opportunities” partner and participated in planning and reviewing NATO [PARP].

Yugoslav scenario

On the other side is Moscow. Moscow noticed the stated position of the Ukrainian president. Russia hastened to respond to “Ukraine’s threats with NATO.” “We strongly doubt that this will help Ukraine solve its internal problem. From our point of view, this will further aggravate the situation,” said Dmitry Peskov, an official spokesman for the Kremlin.

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Duma’s foreign affairs committee [the lower house of the Russian parliament], was even more outspoken. “Ukraine’s forced entry into NATO, regardless of the phase of the internal Ukrainian conflict or the opinion of the people, including that of the people of Donbas, is the ultimate provocation in the last few days,” he told TASS.

“Such a position will not bring Donetsk and Luhansk [two cities in Donbas controlled by pro-Russian separatists, editor’s note] back into the sphere of influence in Kyiv, but on the contrary, it could lead to a Yugoslav scenario,” he warned, given the breakup of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s.

What is happening?

On April 1, Russia began locating a lot of Russian weapons on the border with Ukraine. The Belarusian side noticed similar actions. A Ukrainian journalist was the first to film the movement of military convoys.

The revelation forced the Kremlin to explain after the public learned about what was happening. “The Russian Federation is moving troops within its territory at its discretion; this should not bother anyone; it does not pose a threat to anyone,” said presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

According to him, the Russian Federation is taking the necessary measures to ensure its borders ’security. “You know that along the perimeter of the borders of the Russian Federation; there is increased activity of the armed forces of NATO countries, other associations, individual governments, etc., etc. All this obliges you to be vigilant,” Peskov stressed.

“As for the participation of Russian troops in the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine, Russian troops have never participated in it and do not participate in it. This is a highly internal Ukrainian conflict, and we, European countries, other countries would not want armed forces of Ukraine, the civil war in Ukraine flared up again,“ said Peskov.

The United States has said it will support Ukraine

US and Ukrainian defense ministers Lloyd Austin and Andriy Taran discussed the situation in Donbas. The US minister assured his Ukrainian counterpart of his readiness to support Kyiv in an “escalation of Russian aggression.” The Ukrainian defense ministry website published this statement on its website on Thursday.

“Lloyd Austin expressed concern over the Russian Federation’s recent actions and conveyed to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine his assurances of his readiness to support Ukraine in the face of the ongoing Russian aggression in Donbas and Crimea. Realization of aggressive aspirations of the Russian Federation in Ukraine” said in a statement.

Taran informed the interlocutor about the military-political situation along the demarcation line with the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are not under the control of Kyiv and in Crimea and around the state border of Ukraine.

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