Overview
- Walerij Saluschnyj, a former commander now serving as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, told fellow Ukrainian diplomats that he believes Ukraine will never become a NATO member because the alliance’s doctrines and capabilities do not match the needs of the current war.
- He argued NATO still operates on outdated wartime thinking and said the alliance would take years to reach standards he views as necessary, while praising Ukrainian forces for rapid operational and technological advances.
- Saluschnyj proposed alternative security options, naming a European military bloc and the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) as possible routes, and he said Kyiv should bind itself to new groupings that better fit its needs.
- NATO declined to comment on his remarks and referred reporters to earlier alliance statements reaffirming Ukraine’s long-term transatlantic path, while Kyiv’s foreign ministry sought to downplay the comments and said the constitutional goal of NATO membership remains unchanged.
- The exchange has intensified debate in Europe about how to provide durable security guarantees to Ukraine because the JEF lacks NATO’s collective-defense clause and any new European bloc would require fresh political commitments and integration.