President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence Thursday that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, citing the alliance’s statement that the Russian-invaded country had a “irreversible” road to membership.
“We have strong wording regarding the irreversibility of Ukraine’s movement towards NATO. Every step truly brings us closer to membership,” Zelensky told a news conference at a NATO summit alongside the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg.
“We are doing and will continue to do everything to ensure that the day comes when Ukraine is invited and becomes a NATO member, and I am confident we will achieve this,” he said.
Zelensky’s reaction was substantially warmer than a year ago at the NATO summit in Lithuania, when he was plainly irritated that there was no greater commitment to membership.
NATO, established during the Cold War, is a collective defense treaty in which an assault on one ally is an attack on all.
The United States and Germany have expressed misgivings about fast admitting Ukraine to NATO, saying it would essentially put them at odds with nuclear-armed Russia.
A proclamation issued Wednesday during the 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington stated that leaders backed Ukraine on “its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used Ukraine’s NATO ambitions as a pretext to attack the former Soviet republic, dismissing the notion that the country has a distinct historical identity.