UK and Poland advocate Ukraine's accelerated accession to NATO

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau have expressed hope that Ukraine would be accepted into NATO under an accelerated procedure.

Source: Voice of America

Details: They said that Ukraine's accession process to NATO would probably be fast-tracked due to the fact that the Ukrainian army is already armed with equipment provided by the Alliance.

The ministers also expressed hope that Ukraine would be accepted into NATO under an accelerated procedure similar to the one used by Finland when it joined the alliance earlier this year.

"Poland's position here is very clear. We want to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the alliance in an institutional dimension. To adapt Ukraine's military-political structures to those that are standard in the Alliance," Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said after talks with his UK counterpart in London.

Cleverly added that the Ukrainian military has "extensive experience in the use of standard NATO equipment, NATO doctrine and NATO tactics" and this should shorten the time of joining the Alliance.

"The process by which Sweden and Finland applied to join, and Finland eventually joined NATO, was shortened because we admitted that they are highly capable military states.

And I think we should think about that when we're discussing what process would be appropriate for Ukraine. But I think we must admit their military capability has improved over the last 18 months," Cleverly said.

Background: The foreign and defenсe ministers of UK and Poland signed a bilateral document on Wednesday, 5 July on partnership until 2030, in which they promise each other to deepen foreign policy, security and defence cooperation.

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