The Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna hinted that hypothetical options for Ukraine's "hybrid" accession to NATO are not being discussed in Kyiv, and that so far there is no readiness among the allies to discuss the issue of any guarantees for Ukraine at the Alliance site.
How Ukraine comments on the idea of Ukraine's "hybrid" accession to NATO
Olga Stefanishyna said this during a discussion at the Kyiv Security Forum. Stefanyshyn was reminded of the various ideas of Ukraine's hybrid accession to NATO, such as "accession in parts", which were voiced by former Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, among others, and asked whether Kyiv hypothetically allows such scenarios.
We think in terms of what we do to survive. Therefore, to conduct theoretical discussions, how could it be, if NATO suddenly decided that they accept us, and in whatever forms it happens — we don't even have the time, opportunity and desire to talk about it, — replied Olga Stefanishyna.
She continued that, at the same time, the allies themselves do not see NATO as a platform for discussing security guarantees for Ukraine.
In order for this discussion to take place, a legal decision is needed again, because in NATO any decision is made according to the appropriate procedures... And the allies should see NATO as a platform on which such a dialogue will take place. They should decide that Ukraine will in any case be a country to which Article 5 of the Washington Treaty will be extended. And already after that, various formats are being discussed... There is no solution now, the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
Security guarantees
Ukraine has signed several security agreements with many countries of the North American Alliance. As Jens Stoltenberg noted, he only welcomes such agreements, but they cannot replace full NATO membership. The advantage of the Alliance is that Article 5 has full security guarantees, where an attack on one ally will be an attack on all. That is, all for one and one for all.
Note! On February 16, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed an agreement on security guarantees. The eight sections of the agreement state that Germany will support the development of Ukraine's Defence Forces in various aspects. In the evening of the same day, a similar agreement was signed with France.
Emmanuel Macron emphasised that he is ready, even leaving his comfort zone.
