Pending the initiatives that US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to take to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukrainian authorities believe that the country's future depends on NATO. “Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO is necessary for our survival”said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday 1is December, by receiving the new head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and the new President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, visiting Kiev on the first day of their mandate.
While the foreign ministers of NATO countries are due to meet in Brussels on December 3 and 4, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Andrii Sybiha, sent a letter to each country asking them to“endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance” Atlantic.
Besides this « invitation »Mr. Zelensky recently raised the idea of involving NATO forces in overseeing a possible ceasefire. For “end the hot phase of the war” and in the event of a freezing of the conflict on the current front line, “we must bring the territory of Ukraine under the auspices of NATO” currently controlled by Ukrainian forces, he suggested in an interview with British television Sky News. In exchange, kyiv could consider not “recover the other part of its territory through diplomatic channels” only in a second time. Excluding any permanent territorial concession to Russia, Mr. Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine must return to its 1991 borders. Moscow currently controls around 18% of its territory.
The new leadership team of the European Union (EU) was keen to show its ” support “ to Ukraine, at a time when Europe fears, after Donald Trump's entry into the White House on January 20, a slowdown or cessation of American aid. Kaja Kallas notably estimated that “the strongest security guarantee is NATO membership”even if the EU should not “exclude nothing” concerning the sending of European troops in the event of a ceasefire.
American opposition
In Brussels, however, these hypotheses are not on the table today. NATO membership “is an option that leaves many allies very uncomfortable”confides a diplomat, citing the objections of Germany or Hungary, not to mention those of the United States. If certain states are pushing to offer kyiv this invitation to join NATO, such as France and the United Kingdom, the American president, Joe Biden, refuses to authorize it, and his successor has never supported this hypothesis. Mr. Trump's special envoy in charge of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, General Keith Kellogg, believed on the contrary in April that Washington would need to “proposes postponing Ukraine's NATO membership for an extended period in exchange for a peace deal”.
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