At NATO Summit, Ukraine faced the West’s pragmatic approach – Military expert Zgurets

The West is still afraid to take the Ukrainian Peace Formula as a basis, which provides clear signals to Russia and gives Ukraine a clear perspective on when it will become a NATO member.

This was stated by Serhiy Zgurets, director of the information and consulting company Defense Express in an interview with the Espresso TV channel.

“The NATO summit was Ukrainian in terms of the background, content and issues that were addressed there. We expected clearer signals when Ukraine would become a NATO member, but this is probably a consequence of our high expectations. We again faced the pragmatic approach of the West and the United States, which are still afraid to take the Peace Formula as a basis, which provides clear signals to us and Russia when we become members of the Alliance”.

Sergiy Zgurets, Defense Express director, military expert

The Ukrainian military expert stressed that the NATO integration process is being delayed.

“From the point of view of a pragmatic approach, the support content will be sufficient and significant for us to ensure progress towards NATO. Now only the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fulfilling the mission for which NATO was created – to defend Europe from the Russian or Soviet military threat. I expected more from the summit, but I hope that the mechanisms that will be offered to Ukraine will be important and sufficient to accelerate NATO membership in the next stages, as well as leave unchanged the issue of training the Armed Forces and other measures that ensure our sustainable resilience in the fight against Russia”,” the expert concluded”.

Sergiy Zgurets, Defense Express director, military expert

NATO Summit and Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance

On 11-12 July, a summit of NATO leaders is taking place in Vilnius. Meetings are held at the level of leaders of countries and governments. For the first time, the summit is hosted by Lithuania.

The meetings are attended by leaders of 31 NATO countries, including US President Joe Biden, and delegations from Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine and Sweden. In total, more than 2,400 members of 48 foreign delegations, including up to 40 heads of state and 150 other high-ranking government officials, were expected to arrive in Vilnius. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attended the summit.

Ukraine can join NATO without MAP

In particular, on 11 July, the NATO Summit in Vilnius adopted a package of decisions regarding Ukraine: the Membership Action Plan phase is cancelled, and Ukraine will receive an invitation to join the Alliance after fulfilling the requirements for accession and subject to the consent of all Allies. 

The Allies agreed on a final communiqué on Ukraine and stated that they remembered the 2008 commitment that Ukraine would become a NATO member. The document also acknowledged that Ukraine’s path to full Euro-Atlantic integration has now moved beyond the requirements of the Membership Action Plan. 

The member states stressed that Ukraine is becoming more operationally and politically integrated with the Alliance and has made significant progress on its reform agenda. NATO Foreign Ministers will regularly assess progress through the Annual National Programme, it added.  

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted to the decisions of the Vilnius NATO Summit saying that the Alliance should not delay Ukraine’s accession to the bloc.