© John Moore/Getty ImagesUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Originally elected on an anti-war pledge and now promising another wave of conscription, Zelensky was replying to a question about the future of Ukraine's national security. The Ukrainian president explained that he didn't know whether Ukraine would be able to join the US-led bloc.
"We don't know how it will turn out... No one will be able to answer that for sure. Either we will be in NATO, or we won't be in NATO. We want to, but..." the Ukrainian president responded.
On Wednesday in Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed that Ukraine can become a member of the bloc, "when allies agree and conditions are met." He added that "Ukraine is well on the path of NATO, as well as to the European Union, with the accession process, uh, beginning."
Ukraine made NATO membership a strategic goal of its foreign policy in 2017. In the autumn of 2022, Kiev gave its formal application to join the military bloc after four of its former regions voted to join Russia via referendums.
Russia has long viewed NATO's creeping expansion towards its borders as a major security threat. President Vladimir Putin has on numerous occasions stated that Ukraine joining NATO is absolutely unacceptable to Moscow, and has cited Kiev's potential accession to the bloc as one of the focal reasons for the current military operation.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued that the US-led military bloc has been aimed at deterring Russia as "a tool of confrontation" since its inception. He added that there are no signs that NATO will change that goal anytime soon, and neither will it stop "sacrificing" Ukrainians in its fight against Russia.
Reader Comments
I immediately saw some smelly diapers on his butt and a rubber pacifier in his mouth.
The very idea that this ball of rubbish is pretending he's a "leader" - how farcical is this world?
Zelensky is a last name grade school kids would mock in derogatory fashion, as well they should.
As you might know, there are downplayed reports about blockades of Polish (and now Romanian) border checkpoints to the Ukraine. Ostensibly to block the import of cheap (and contaminated) Ukrainian agricultural products. But there is something off here. Queues of 50km and more are reported. Logistics companies don't like their assets stuck for days with costs piling up, if they can avoid it.
I suspect the respective governments, or influential parts of them, are fed up with the warmongering in Bruessels. They use the "cheap food" ruse to block the Nato proxy as much as they can, to help bringing this drama to an end.
Many things in this world are not as they seem ...
At least it had been. Most Eastern Europen countries joined because of the economic & financial promises made. Which never really materialized, of course.
Now they seem to sabotage the Central Commitee in Bruessels whenever they can, while still paying lip servise to their edicts.