Kiev [Ukraine], December 2: President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that the parts of Ukraine under his control should be taken "under the NATO umbrella" to try and stop the "hot phase" of the war.
He was asked by Sky News whether he would accept NATO membership, but only on the territory that Kiev currently holds. Zelensky said he would, but only if NATO membership was offered to the whole of Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders, first. Ukraine could then attempt to negotiate the return of territory currently under Russian control "in a diplomatic way", he said in a wide-ranging interview.
But the suggestion is highly theoretical. Zelensky is not floating any new proposals - this was a television interview, not a diplomatic forum - but he is sending signals. Whether NATO would ever consider such a move is highly doubtful. "Ukraine has never considered such a proposal, because no-one has officially offered it to us," Zelensky said.
NATO would need to offer membership to the whole country, including those parts currently under Russian control, he said. "You can't give [an] invitation to just one part of a country," the president said, according to a translation provided by Sky News. "Why? Because thus, you would recognise that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine, and the other one is Russia." Lots of people were proposing ceasefires, he said, but without a mechanism to prevent Russia from attacking again, ceasefires were simply too dangerous.
Only NATO membership, he said, could offer that kind of guarantee. The Ukrainian president has already said that he thinks the war could end in the coming year if Ukraine's allies show sufficient resolve.
Reports suggest that discussion of the so-called West German model - NATO membership offered to a divided country - has been going on in Western circles for more than a year. But no formal proposals have yet been made. Zelensky has been keen to sound willing to engage with whatever proposals US President-elect Donald Trump might be considering.
"I want to share with him ideas, and I want to hear from him, his ideas," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader said he would be sending a team in the coming days to meet Trump officials, including the president-elect's recently appointed special envoy for Ukraine, retired general Keith Kellogg.
Source: Qatar Tribune
