Ukraine admits it won't be part of NATO

RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:12 UTC

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Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the UK Joint Expeditionary Force meeting

NATO allies don't want to see Ukraine among their ranks and Kiev realizes that, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Western leaders on Tuesday. Now Kiev seeks protection from individual member states.

Zelensky, during a video call the UK Joint Expeditionary Force, a meeting of the leaders of Nordic and Baltic nations hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said:

"We've been hearing for years that the [NATO] doors were supposedly open, but now we know we won't enter there. That is the truth, and we must acknowledge that. I am glad that our people are beginning to understand that and to rely on ourselves and those partners that aid us."

The Ukrainian leader apparently included the people he was addressing on the list of good friends of Ukraine, despite most of them leading NATO allies. He said the military organization was in no position to offer the security guarantees that his country wants to receive from other nations. But individual states could help Ukraine even with NATO doors closed to it, he suggested, and have been doing so for eight years of what he described as a Ukrainian war against Russia.

Zelensky shamed NATO for not imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine due to concerns that this would escalate the hostilities into a full-blown world war. The refusal to impose it is shared by all members of the organization, with US, its de facto leader, reiterating it on many occasions over the past weeks.

The Ukrainian leader claimed NATO member states "hypnotized themselves" with the fear of a global conflict that would have the potential of ending human civilization. He didn't hide bitterness over the fact that allies refused to protect Ukraine the way they are bound to defend each other in case of a military attack.

Ukraine made NATO membership a key goal of its foreign policy after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev put an anti-Russian government into power. The aspiration was made part of its national constitution in 2019.

Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine in late February. President Vladimir Putin stated that NATO's creeping expansion into Ukraine without its formal accession was a major factor in his decision to order the incursion. Kiev blasted the attack as "unprovoked."

Western nations mostly agreed but refused to fight for Ukraine militarily. Instead, they ramped up weapons supplies to Kiev and imposed harsh economic sanctions against Russia, expecting them to inflict enough damage to stop the military offensive.

Comment: Zelensky bites back at NATO:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned NATO on Tuesday, furthering his criticism of the alliance in the wake of Russia's assault, claiming the US-led military bloc is not committed to the Article 5 collective defense clause.

Speaking in a video address, the Ukrainian leader claimed that the mutual defense article has never looked "as weak as it is today." He argued that NATO would likely fail to protect its own members if one came under assault from an adversary, such as Russia.

Leaders from NATO countries have repeatedly rejected any suggestion that they are not committed to the Article 5 clause that guarantees the mutual defense between member states. Speaking in Lithuania last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described America's commitment to Article 5 as "sacrosanct."

The latest criticism from Zelensky came as the Ukrainian leader seemingly conceded that his country will never join NATO, stating that his citizens have "realized" they won't be permitted to be part of the alliance.

Searching for a substitute? The guilt trip continues:

Ukraine needs to make a "defensive alliance" with a country armed with nuclear weapons like the UK, the top security official in Kiev Alexey Danilov said in a radio interview on Tuesday, dismissing as useless most international organizations set up after WWII.

"The whole world already understands what is happening in Ukraine. Unfortunately, not all countries react appropriately," Danilov, who chairs the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, told Kiev's NV Radio.

Condemning countries that care more about money than "democratic values," Danilov said some Western states are on Kiev's side, but others "left us hanging at a tough moment," and their names will live in infamy.

Danilov dismissed a "bunch of international organizations created after the Second World War" that "don't affect anything, but only express concern."

"Ukraine needs to make a new defensive alliance, which must include a country with nuclear weapons. Today that is Great Britain," he said.

Contrary to NATO's rhetoric and Ukraine's belligerent rhetoric, there are glimmers of progress:

Alexey Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has said that Moscow and Kiev could sign a peace deal in the coming weeks.

"I believe, most likely, we'll have a peace agreement by May, in early May, or maybe even earlier. We'll see how it goes"

He added that in the best-case scenario, a deal on the withdrawal of Russian troops could even be reached in "one to two weeks."

The adviser said the fourth round of talks, conducted on Monday via video link, was somewhat more "constructive." Mykhailo Podolyak, another Ukrainian presidential adviser, said negotiators had taken a "technical pause" until Tuesday for "clarification of individual definitions."

In a daily video address on Tuesday, President Zelensky claimed that during 19 days of warfare, Russia has lost 80 warplanes, as well as "hundreds of tanks and thousands of other units of equipment." The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, reported on Monday evening that it had destroyed nearly 1,300 Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles, nearly 600 different artillery pieces, and 145 drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had continued destroying radar stations and weapons depots on Monday. The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Tuesday morning that the Russian ground offensives had "no significant success."

Both sides have remained tight-lipped about their casualties. Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday that around 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Moscow released its last casualty update on March 2, saying that 498 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,600 wounded.

Retaliation and punishment to stoke the situation, someone must pay:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that allows for the jailing of anyone helping Russia amid its ongoing military offensive against Ukraine, the deputy speaker of Ukraine's parliament said.

Speaking to Ukraina 24 on Tuesday, Alexander Kornienko argued that the punishment should also apply to around 20 "unpatriotic" MPs, who he said have fled the country in the face of the Russian attack that began on February 24.

The law, which was passed by parliament in early March, provides for up to 15 years in jail for anyone helping "an aggressor state," including making public statements in its support. This also includes voluntarily holding leadership positions in "illegal government bodies" on "temporarily occupied territories."

Those found guilty of helping the enemy can be jailed for life if their actions lead to deaths or "other severe consequences."

Ukraine's State Investigative Bureau said last week that 38 high treason cases were opened against officials and police officers who defected to or worked with Russian troops.