1, File: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky formally signed the nation’s application to join the European Union Mach, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the idea of NATO membership without its Russian-occupied territories at a press conference on Sunday in Kiev with the new European Council president, António Costa.
“An invitation for Ukraine to join NATO is a necessary thing for our survival,” Zelensky said. But he added that there cannot be an invitation to NATO for only one part of the country.
He stressed that such a move would effectively recognize the loss of territory controlled by Russia, something Ukraine will never accept.
As a result, Zelensky emphasized that NATO membership can only be extended to Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
But in a recent interview, Zelensky had suggested NATO security guarantees could apply only to government-controlled areas of Ukraine.
Ukraine has been defending itself from Russia’s full-scale invasion for over two and a half years. Moscow currently controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Joining NATO is a key component of Zelensky’s “victory plan,” presented in October.
The Ukraine’s president made the comments after meeting Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new head of diplomacy, and Antonio Costa, freshly appointed president of the European Council, who were visiting Kyiv as a show of support on their first day in office.
“An invitation for Ukraine to join NATO is a necessary thing for our survival,” Zelensky said at a press conference with Costa.
It comes after Zelenksy appeared to shift his position dramatically on Friday by accepting that Ukraine may have to give up some territory“temporarily” to end the war. He said the occupied land could be negotiated back in the future “diplomatically”.
Ukraine faces a tough winter ahead, with Russia unleashing devastating barrages against its power grid
Questions are also swirling around the future of US support once Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January, with fears he could force Kyiv to make painful concessions in pursuit of a quick peace deal.
Zelensky said his country needed to be in a “strong position” before any talks with the Kremlin, calling for “steps forward with NATO” and a “good number” of long-distance weapons to defend itself.
“Only when we have all these items and we are strong, after that, we have to make the very important… agenda of the meeting with one or another of the killers,” the Ukrainian leader said, adding that the EU and BNATO should be involved in any negotiations.
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