President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, according to Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg, "NATO's doors are open for Ukraine."

He wrote about this on his Twitter page after a telephone conversation with the head of the military bloc.

“I am glad to hear from Jens Stoltenberg that NATO's doors are open for Ukraine.

Thank you for your personally and alliance members' support in our desire to achieve NATO membership.

Our immediate goal is the MAP (NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) - a program for the admission of new members to the alliance. -

RT

).

We are serious about reforms because this, first of all, strengthens our defense sector, ”Zelensky wrote.

Radiy chuti vіd @jensstoltenberg, scho doors @NATO for #Ukraine vіdchinenі.

Dyakuyu, you are a special member of the Alliance to receive us from the Bazhanna to reach membership in # NATO.

Our best meta is the MAP.

We are seriously putting ourselves before reforms, and some of them are in front of the change of our defense sector pic.twitter.com/mlQ8hm51Mm

- Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) February 25, 2021

However, this is not the first time Stoltenberg has spoken about "open doors" to NATO for the Ukrainian side.

"NATO's doors remain open, but the path to NATO membership is not easy," the head of the alliance said in October 2019, addressing the Verkhovna Rada following a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission.

Stoltenberg reiterated that “NATO's doors are open and the Alliance fully supports Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations” on February 9, 2021, during a meeting in Brussels with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal.  

As a reminder, Ukraine submitted an application to start implementing the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) back in January 2008, but in April, during the Bucharest summit, it was refused due to the position of France and Germany.

Nevertheless, Ukraine was encouraged that in the future it would be seen as a full member of the Alliance.

Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian leader, cooperation with the bloc is "extremely important" for Ukraine.

“We are strengthening our army by joining the standards of the alliance, sharing practical experience, developing strategic partnership and friendship,” Zelensky said.

Spіvpratsya with @NATO is super important for #Ukraine.

Let us change our army, reaching the standards of the Alliance, dimosya by practical advice, developing strategic partnership and friendship.

- Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) February 25, 2021

Recall that in January, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as part of the transition to NATO standards, established the correspondence of the codification of the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the military ranks of the bloc.

This was announced by the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Andriy Taran.

“This is another step to ensure compatibility with the armed forces of the member states of the alliance,” Tarana is quoted as saying by his press service.

According to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, these changes will become the beginning of the "Euro-Atlantic transformation of the existing personnel management system" and an integral part of the draft concept of the military personnel policy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until 2025.

At the same time, the message on the website of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine emphasizes that the Constitution presupposes the conduct of Kiev "a strategic course towards the acquisition of full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO."

“In order to ensure the implementation of the priority tasks of Ukraine's integration into NATO, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the Annual National Program under the auspices of Ukraine-NATO.

Special attention in the program is paid to the transfer of the security and defense sector of Ukraine to the standards of the North Atlantic bloc and to improving the compatibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the armed forces of the member states of the alliance, ”the document says.

Role of the USA

Ukraine's aspirations for NATO are also supported by the United States.

We will remind, last week the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin, during a telephone conversation with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, once again confirmed "the US commitment to strengthening the potential of Ukrainian forces for more effective protection against Russian aggression."

This is stated in the message of the Pentagon.

At the same time, Austin stressed that the Ukrainian side needs to "maintain progress in the implementation of defense reforms."


The press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine also published a report on the talks.

In it, the head of the military department said that Kiev is "grateful to the US leadership" for assistance in the defense sphere and confirms the intention of the Ukrainian side to continue participating in the alliance's operations.

Earlier, Lloyd Austin recalled that he supports the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, and also called this issue a priority for Washington in the fight of Kiev against "Russian aggression".

  • Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin

  • Reuters

  • © Carlos Barria

At the same time, he said that he considered it necessary to provide the Ukrainian side with "lethal weapons, which it needs for self-defense."

US President Joe Biden also spoke about the need to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference, which took place on February 19 online.

According to the American leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly "seeks to weaken the European project and NATO alliance", as well as "undermine the transatlantic unity."

“That is why upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is still vital for Europe and the United States,” Biden said.

"Excessively high estimates"

Experts draw attention to the fact that, despite the promises of the new US administration to provide security assistance to Ukraine to strengthen its armed forces, it will not facilitate the entry of the Ukrainian side into NATO.

"This is useless for the new US administration, it will adhere to exactly the same policy that the previous democratic leadership promoted," Oleg Nemensky, a leading researcher at RISS, told RT.

According to the analyst, due to the fact that Ukraine is pursuing a policy of active military cooperation with NATO, its territory is already at the full disposal of the alliance.

“As for Zelensky’s words about strengthening the Ukrainian army by joining the bloc’s standards, these are overstated estimates.

In fact, most of the states participating in such programs of interaction with NATO have rather weak armies, far from positive characteristics, ”the expert explained.

According to political scientist and economist Oleksandr Dudchak, all these reforms, which are reported by Zelensky and the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, "only finish off the country."

“The transition to NATO standards does not bring any benefit to Ukrainians at all.

This is only extremely harmful to the state.

This whole procedure is generally similar to how the colonial forces are moving to the standards of their master, nothing more, ”the analyst said in a conversation with RT.

Dudchak also emphasized that the Ukrainian leader's rhetoric regarding NATO "is similar to undisguised subservience to the United States."

“The policy of the alliance is determined, first of all, by the United States.

They are squeezing defense contributions from the bloc members, forcing them to increase, and pursuing a policy of aggression around the world.

And now we see Zelensky's attempts to demonstrate his loyalty and dedication to Washington, willingness to go to any lengths in order to sit in his chair until the end of the term, ”the expert said.

"Prospects are zero"


At the same time, analysts agree that in general, the prospects for Ukraine's membership in NATO are zero.

“Yes, NATO will develop its programs on the territory of Ukraine, but there is and cannot be any serious formulation of the question of the country's entry into the alliance,” Oleg Nemensky believes.

Oleksandr Dudchak, for his part, admitted that Ukraine in the future could be provided with the NATO Membership Action Plan, which Zelensky mentioned.

However, “this will not lead to anything,” the expert said.

  • Servicemen of the army of Ukraine

  • Reuters

  • © Oleksandr Klymenko

“According to this plan, the Ukrainian side will go for a long time, until it is finally told that the idea of ​​joining the alliance is futile,” the analyst believes.

As Nemensky clarified, in the thesis of the Alliance Secretary General that NATO's doors are open for Ukraine, "a serious reservation must be made."

“Yes, they are open, however, just like for any other country in the world.

It's another matter that Ukraine will not be able to enter these doors, since the bloc will not give its consent to this due to the country's non-compliance with its standards.

In addition, this will not happen due to the political and military inexpediency of Ukraine's inclusion in NATO, ”the expert explained.

According to Nemensky, Ukraine is already controlled by NATO, and it already has everything that the alliance needs from this country.

“So any statements by Kiev about Ukraine's impending NATO membership are just a form of political propaganda aimed at gaining support from the radical pro-Western part of Ukrainian society,” the analyst concluded.