Zelenskyy does not believe in "partial NATO membership" for Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not believe it is a realistic idea for the North Atlantic Alliance to extend security guarantees to part of Ukraine's territory.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference in Kyiv, European Pravda reports

Details: The head of state emphasised that Ukraine's full accession to the Alliance is "the most powerful option" to ensure the security of the country.

"But we are not being invited to join NATO," he said.

Zelenskyy stressed that Kyiv has not yet received any proposals from its official partners regarding Ukraine's "partial accession" to the Alliance, but he has heard these ideas being discussed and is extremely sceptical about them.

"Signals about partial participation in the Alliance are nonsense. No offence to those who are saying this," the president said.

The idea of "partial NATO membership" for Ukraine is being pushed by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. 

However, Zelenskyy does not consider this initiative to be viable. "It is very difficult to imagine how this could be," he said.

In particular, the President said that such a scenario would lead to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO, as the Russian leadership has made uncompromising statements about the continuation of Russia's goal of conquering Ukraine.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "Let's imagine that part of Ukraine is in NATO. This is high-risk... It means that he [Putin - ed.] will attack and there will be a war with NATO."

Details: According to the President, "partial accession" to the Alliance will also raise the issue of what happens about the occupied territories if Ukraine is a member of NATO. 

"We will not recognise part of our territory as Russian," Zelenskyy said.

Support UP or become our patron!