Ukraine will become the first state among NATO partner countries to receive an updated set of partnership goals with the alliance until 2025.

This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The department clarified that on May 28, a meeting of the Alliance Partnership and Collective Security Committee was held with the participation of representatives of Kiev.

The updated package of partnership goals, in addition to tasks, also contains a list of forces and means that Ukraine must prepare for participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, operations and missions of the military bloc.

As stated on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the republic, during the meeting, representatives of a number of NATO countries "noted progress" in reforming the Ukrainian defense sector, as well as the efforts that the country is making to comply with NATO standards.

  • RIA News

  • © Mikhail Palinchak

The document will now be sent to the North Atlantic Council for consideration.

However, as the president of the Ukrainian think tank Alexander Okhrimenko noted in a commentary to RT, the adoption of a new set of partnership goals is unlikely to bring Ukraine closer to membership in the alliance.

“This is just a formal procedure, which, in fact, does not affect anything.

However, the country's authorities try to present any news about NATO in a positive tone.

Although Ukraine is not ready to integrate into the alliance, the authorities will still pretend that there is some progress, ”says Okhrimenko.

Thirty years later

Let us recall that cooperation between Kiev and the North Atlantic Alliance began in 1991.

Then Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, and in 1994 entered the Partnership for Peace program.

Three years later, the Ukrainian leadership signed a Charter on a Special Partnership with the alliance.

In the same years, the NATO-Ukraine Commission (KNU) was founded.

The decision on the fundamental possibility of Ukraine joining NATO was made by the members of the alliance in 2008 at the summit in Bucharest.

A coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 spurred Kiev's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

In 2017, a law was adopted in the republic that secured the priorities of its state policy - these were plans to join NATO and the EU.

In 2019, these goals were also fixed in the country's Constitution.

  • Military personnel of Ukraine and the United States during the Rapid Trident 2020 exercise

  • Reuters

  • © Gleb Garanich

At the same time, the North Atlantic Alliance is in no hurry to endow Ukraine with the status of a permanent member of the bloc.

Thus, the country became a member of the NATO Expanded Opportunities Partnership only in the summer of 2020.

This format of cooperation provided Kiev with expanded access to the bloc's programs and exercises, as well as to the exchange of information.

As the official representative of the alliance said then, such a decision "recognizes the significant contribution of Ukraine to NATO missions."

However, this did not bring Ukraine closer to receiving the NATO Membership Action Plan (NATO MAP).

We are talking about a program of measures to prepare candidate countries to join the alliance.

The plan includes five main sections: defense, political and economic, legal, as well as sections on resources and security.

Kiev pinned great hopes on the NATO summit to be held in June.

Thus, in March, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olga Stefanishina, said that the republic expects to receive a response from the alliance to a request to grant the country the MAP.

According to her, Kiev needs this to understand the position of the alliance on cooperation for the next decade.

“Today NATO countries are shaping a new vision until 2030.

Ukraine must understand where the countries of the alliance see it in a ten-year perspective.

Therefore, it is important to have an answer on the receipt of a membership action plan, ”Stefanishina said in an interview with the Ukrinform agency.

In early March, the head of Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, also spoke on the topic of Ukraine's accession to NATO.

He expressed the hope that the process "will be accelerated as much as possible," since Ukraine "is an outpost for the protection of democratic values" in a war, and Ukrainians are dying in Donbass "for their democratic choice."

In his opinion, “now is the time when Ukraine should speak about joining NATO every day, demand joining”. 

  • Head of Zelensky's office Andriy Yermak

  • Reuters

  • © Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

However, NATO quickly cooled Kiev's ardor.

Ulrike Demmer, a deputy spokesman for the German government, said in early April that although NATO follows an open door policy for new candidates, further steps towards Ukraine's membership in the alliance are currently not foreseen.

The RT source in the Servant of the People party also believes that Ukraine should not count on integration into the alliance, primarily because of the conflict in Donbass.

“Who in NATO needs a country on whose territory a war is being waged?

Moreover, one that does not fulfill its obligations?

So you can always dream of joining NATO, but it doesn't make any sense, ”the deputy is sure.

Trade in Russophobia

However, in May, Kiev was again reassured by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who said that a roadmap for Ukraine's entry into the bloc would be discussed at the upcoming NATO summit. 

However, in reality, Ukraine has not even been invited to the alliance event yet.

As stated by the head of the republic's foreign ministry Dmitry Kuleba, the Ukrainian side is disappointed with this and does not understand how it is possible to hold a summit without her participation against the background of "aggressive actions of the Russian Federation."

“We are grateful to our NATO partners for the constant confirmation of the open door policy based on the decision of the 2008 Bucharest summit, but 13 years have passed since then, and not a single step has been taken towards the implementation of this decision ... It is very important for Ukraine that the policy of open doors have not turned into a policy of feeding on promises, ”the minister added.

In addition, according to a RT source in the office of the President of Ukraine, NATO's reluctance to speed up the country's admission to the bloc "is very upsetting for President Zelensky."

“Ukraine is striving for the alliance, this is one of its strategic goals.

But so far the bloc is in no hurry to provide a real program of action, probably due to a weak level of training and a high level of corruption, ”he said.

In turn, the interlocutor of RT in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says that "all Ukrainian diplomacy is working to improve relations with NATO."

“Ukraine wants to join NATO, but in the next couple of years, not in the indefinite future.

We need access to Western technologies, not empty promises, ”he stressed.

However, as analysts state, the Ukrainian army does not meet NATO standards either in weapons and equipment or in training.

“If Ukraine is now to issue the MAP or to accept it into NATO, the members of the alliance will need colossal investments in the development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It is impossible to rule out that Kiev will once join the alliance, but this process will take a long time, since the Ukrainian army is far from the standards of the bloc, "Okhrimenko said.

In turn, Aleksey Podberezkin, director of the MGIMO Center for Military-Political Studies, believes that it is beneficial for the leadership of the alliance to keep Ukraine "on the doorstep of NATO."

“In its quest for the bloc, Kiev is increasingly strengthening Russophobia in its policies. This background also affects neighboring Eastern European countries. As a result, Ukraine itself can be used as a force for provocations against Russia. Conversations about Ukraine’s joining NATO simply create information noise, nothing more. In Kiev, they already partly understand that it is simply being used. But the Ukrainian authorities are forced to promote this course. The country is trading in Russophobia in exchange for help from abroad, ”Podberezkin summed up.