President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that parts of Ukraine under his control should be placed “under the NATO umbrella” to try to stop the “hot phase” of the war.
In a long and wide-ranging interview on Sky News, the Ukrainian president was asked whether he would accept NATO membership, but only in the territory Kiev currently controls.
Zelensky said he would do so, but only if NATO membership was first offered to all of Ukraine, within internationally recognized borders.
Ukraine could then try to negotiate “in a diplomatic manner” the return of territory currently under Russian control, he said.
But the suggestion is highly theoretical. As Zelensky noted, no one has yet made such an offer.
Whether NATO would ever consider such a move is highly doubtful.
“Ukraine has never considered such a proposal, because no one officially offered it to us,” Zelensky said.
NATO should offer membership to the entire country, including parts currently under Russian control, he said.
‘You can’t give [an] invitation to only one part of a country,” the president said, according to a Sky News translation. “Why? Because then you would recognize that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine, and the other territory is Russia.”
Many people proposed a ceasefire, he said, but without a mechanism to prevent Russia from attacking again, ceasefires were simply too dangerous.
Only NATO membership could provide such a guarantee, he said.
The Ukrainian president has already said he believes the war could end within the next year if Ukraine’s allies show enough resolve.
Reports indicate that the discussion about the so-called West German model (NATO membership offered to a divided country) has been going on in Western circles for more than a year.
But no formal proposals have been made yet.
It is also worth noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far given absolutely no indication that he has given up his desire to completely subjugate Ukraine.
The idea that he would be willing to allow any part of Ukraine to join NATO is unthinkable for now.
All indications so far are that any NATO involvement is completely unacceptable.
