Aug 3 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s former top military commander, now ambassador to Britain, was quoted as saying on Monday that there was no prospect of the country joining NATO, an aspiration entrenched in the constitution.
Valery Zaluzhnyi, quoted by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, told a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met the military standards needed to join the alliance.
“I know NATO really well. For about 12 years, I personally worked on making sure we met NATO standards, and every year I heard tales about how we would join NATO any day now,” Evropeiska Pravda quoted him as telling the meeting.
“Unfortunately, we will never actually join.”
Zaluzhnyi said it was “impossible with the level of development that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have … to join an organisation guided by World War II doctrines”.
Ukraine needed the technology “already in use in NATO member-states, including anti-missile defence, space capabilities etc”, he was quoted as saying.
Ukraine has enshrined in its constitution a strategic goal of membership of NATO and the European Union. It has, however, acknowledged that currently it would not be welcomed into NATO by all its members.
Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as Ukraine’s top commander last year over differences with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on conducting the war with Russia, now well into its fifth year.
Opinion surveys on voter trust put him roughly on a par with Zelenskiy and with former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, sacked as defence minister last month. Zaluzhnyi’s successor as top commander was also dismissed last month.
Russia has rejected out of hand any notion of Ukrainian membership of NATO.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Stephen Coates)
