The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressed his readiness to discuss the option of Ukraine joining NATO, under which Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty would not apply to it. This article guarantees collective defense in the event of an armed attack on one of the member states of the Alliance.
He stated this during a meeting with European commissioners who came to Kyiv.
The president said that Ukraine will "never accept" an invitation to the Alliance in a reduced form - "only all territories".
"But as we said, we understand that the 5th amendment cannot apply during the war on the entire territory of Ukraine, because the countries are against the risks of involving them in the war. Ukraine has never involved anyone in this war. I mean the army of NATO members," Zelensky said.
He also said that he would lose the support of half of his partners if he raised the question of NATO troops in Ukraine.
Earlier, in an interview with Sky News, the president stated that Kyiv is ready to refuse to return territories by military means if Ukraine is accepted into NATO.
What this statement means, we analyzed here.
At the same time, the idea of joining NATO without the use of Article 5 is not entirely clear. Because in this article, according to which an attack on one member is equal to an attack on all NATO members, the main content of the North Atlantic military bloc is concluded.
It is possible that the president had in mind the so-called "German" option - when the guarantees of Article 5 apply only to the controlled part of Ukraine and do not apply to the uncontrolled part. That is, if Ukraine decides to retake the captured territories by military means, NATO countries will not come to its aid. Only if there is an attack on the controlled territory.
However, Zelenskyy did not formulate it that way. And that's why his statement looks very strange.
However, any option for Ukraine to join NATO still looks purely hypothetical due to Russia's opposition and the reluctance of the Alliance countries to enter into a direct military conflict with it.
