Poland and the UK call for Ukraine’s accelerated accession to NATO

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau expressed hope that Ukraine would be admitted to NATO under an accelerated procedure.

Ukraine’s accession to NATO can be accelerated as Ukrainian Army has NATO equipment – UK and Poland

The ministers stated that the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO is likely to be accelerated because the Ukrainian army already has equipment provided by the Alliance. The Voice of America reported this.

In addition, the ministers believe that Ukraine should be treated in the same way as Finland when it joined the Alliance earlier this year.

“Poland’s position here is obvious. We want to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the Alliance in the institutional dimension. We want to adapt Ukraine’s military and political structures to those that are standard in the Alliance”.

Zbigniew Rau, Polish Foreign Minister

Cleverly added that Ukraine’s military has “extensive experience in using standard NATO equipment, NATO doctrine and NATO tactics”, which should reduce the time to join the Alliance.

“The process by which Sweden and Finland applied to join, and Finland eventually joined NATO, was shortened because we recognised that they are highly capable military powers. And I think we have to think about that when we discuss what process would be appropriate for Ukraine. But I think we have to recognise how much their military capability has improved over the last 18 months”.

James Cleverly, British Foreign Secretary

Ukraine’s accession to NATO: latest statements

On 11-12 July, the NATO summit will take place in Vilnius. Ukraine expects concrete decisions on its path to joining the Alliance. On 23 May, Ukraine’s ambassador to NATO, Natalia Galibarenko, said that in the context of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukraine was preparing two cooperation packages – political and practical – to be discussed.

In turn, on 30 May, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced three steps for the success of the Vilnius Summit: “Strengthen institutional ties and assistance between Ukraine and NATO. Take a step towards Ukraine’s membership in NATO. Provide security guarantees on Ukraine’s path to NATO”.

On 10 June, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Volodymyr Havrylov expressed his belief that the July NATO summit in Vilnius would set out the algorithm for Ukraine’s accession to NATO. Subsequently, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg says that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance but that it is impossible to give exact dates of accession while the country is at war.

On 15 June, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Ukraine’s membership in NATO with 425 votes in favour. The next day, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Stoltenberg to abandon the MAP if Ukraine joined NATO.

In return, US President Joe Biden said he would not mind removing the MAP stage for Ukraine’s accession to NATO. This would mean an inevitable easing of the accession procedure.

Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is a vital part of Europe’s defence and called on the allies to invite the country to join NATO. Already on 27 June, he noted that Ukraine has every reason to receive a political invitation to join NATO at the summit in Vilnius.

And British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly assured that the country would support Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance under a simplified procedure.

On 28 June, during a speech in parliament on the occasion of Constitution Day, Zelenskyy proposed five points of the Ukrainian Doctrine, which stipulates that Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union and NATO.

On 30 June, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said that NATO member states were close to a consensus on Ukraine’s accession to NATO without the MAP.

On 4 July, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called on NATO allies to offer Ukraine a simplified accession to the Alliance at the Vilnius summit to increase the effectiveness of Ukrainians on the battlefield.