UK on Ukraine's membership in NATO: now self-defense is the priority

Now is not the time to talk about Ukraine's application to NATO, as at the moment the most important thing is Kyiv's self-defense against Russian aggression.

This was stated by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Politico reports.

The U.K. wants to support Ukraine “ultimately on that path to NATO membership,” Cleverly stressed, “but I think the sequencing is important — and today’s work is helping them defend themselves.”

Cleverly acknowledged NATO's commitment, made at the 2008 Bucharest summit, that Ukraine would eventually join the alliance. But he argues that this is a discussion for a later stage.

“Obviously, there is long-standing commitments to providing Ukraine with a path to NATO membership,” he said following a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. But, the foreign secretary added, “the priority of course, at the moment, is about their self-defense in the here and now.”

In his opinion, Ukraine's place in the European security architecture should be decided already during its post-war reconstruction.

“As part of that reconstruction, the Ukrainians and of course everybody else will want to see a credible way of ensuring that the brutality that they’re currently experiencing isn’t replicated in the future,” Cleverly added. 

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 06/04/2022