After two years of war, “Ukrainian soldiers have almost nothing left to learn from NATO member countries”

Deploy European troops in Ukraine, without NATO? “It would only be a tactical break for Vladimir Putin”

An intergovernmental organization above all

The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andriy Sybiha, clarified that during this meeting, kyiv will raise “the question of [comment] limit Russia’s ability to produce this type of weaponry”. The NATO-Ukraine Commission does not, however, commit NATO to helping Ukraine if it is at war. The transatlantic organization has no desire to become directly involved in the conflict with Russia. “It does not have an extremely large budget of its own. The aid provided to Ukraine is therefore, all in all, quite limited.explains Amélie Zima.

In fact, “as an intergovernmental organization, NATO itself does not issue weapons. It is the Member States who do itspecifies the researcher. Through its Secretary General Mark Rutte, NATO can [simplement] act by encouraging its Member States to provide more assistance to Ukraine.“But member states remain free to give more or fewer weapons to kyiv, and to set limits on their use.

Amélie Zima also believes that NATO does not really have the means to shake Russia. For her, if there is indeed an institution that is capable of “harm the Russian economy“, it is rather the European Union (EU), whose effect of sanctions is beginning to be felt in the country of Vladimir Putin. “Many specialists also say that the year 2025 will be absolutely terrible for Russia from an economic point of view.“

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Membership considered, but not immediately

kyiv actually hopes for many things from NATO, such as obtaining a security guarantee and being able to formally join the Alliance. There has in fact always been the idea, as soon as the partnership was established, that Ukraine would one day join NATO, which recognizes its Euro-Atlantic identity.

However, at this point, “This is not possible because NATO has still not modified its enlargement criteria, particularly regarding respect for the rule of law and liberal democratic values.”explains Amélie Zima. And Ukraine does not yet respect all of the membership conditions imposed. This is why Germany and the United States are currently opposed to this project. “There is no desire to make Ukraine a special case, by bringing it in, even if it does not meet the criteria. They don’t want to set a precedent.”

The researcher recalls that “NATO is a regional security alliance. Its role is therefore to act as a deterrent to prevent Russia from attacking one of its member states.“For the moment, the Alliance is therefore offering training centers to Ukraine. As the Joint Analysis Training and Education Centre (JATEC), which will be operational in Poland in the first half of 2025. The objective is to develop the capacity of the Ukrainian armed forces to defend themselves, provide deterrence and work with NATO.

Amélie Zima specifies, however, that “even if there are things that can still be transmitted to them, Ukrainians have almost nothing to learn from NATO or EU member countries. An army that has been fighting for two and a half years is a seasoned army.”