Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky reaffirmed Monday that joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is still the goal of his country.
“There is no signal from us that NATO membership is not our goal,” he told reporters after he met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv.
However, he acknowledged that the path for Russia’s neighbor will be long because NATO’s “open door” policy has no specific deadlines.
When asked if Kyiv could change its position on NATO membership, Prystaiko was quoted as saying, “We might—especially being threatened like that, blackmailed by that, and pushed to it.”
He backtracked his comments later and said dropping the bid for NATO membership is not an option.
“We are not a member of NATO right now and to avoid war we are ready for many concessions and that is what we are doing in conversations with the Russians,” Prystaiko said during a separate interview with the BBC. “It has nothing to do with NATO which is enshrined in the constitution.”
Tensions at the Russia-Ukraine border have been escalating in recent weeks after Russia moved more than 100,000 troops and heavy weapons within striking distance of Ukraine.
The United States warned that an invasion of Ukraine by Russia can happen in days.
Several countries withdrew personnel from Ukraine and urged citizens to leave.
However, Russia denied accusations that it plans to invade Ukraine.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, which promised in 2008 that the former Soviet country would eventually be given the opportunity to join, a step that would bring the U.S.-led alliance to Russia’s border.
Back in February 2019, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a constitutional amendment committing the country to becoming a member of NATO and the European Union after the parliament passed the bill.
“One of the main conclusions that we all, as a society, must make from the last five years is the unconditional strategic course of Ukraine towards NATO and the European Union ... Ukraine in NATO is a guarantee of our security,” he said.
On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine’s growing ties with the alliance could make it a launchpad for NATO missiles targeted at Russia.
He says Russia needs to lay down “red lines” to prevent that.
The Kremlin recently declined to deescalate tensions with Ukraine, saying the United States and NATO failed to address fundamental security concerns of Moscow: that NATO stops its eastward expansion and that strike weapons not be deployed near Russian borders, according to a statement obtained by Russian State Media TASS.
“It was emphasized that these issues would be central in our assessment of the documents received from the U.S. and NATO, which would be brought to the notice of our colleagues,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly told Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a call on Saturday.
Washington and NATO have an open mind about Ukraine joining NATO.
“From our perspective, I can’t be more clear—NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment,” Blinken said in late January, though he renewed an offer of “reciprocal” measures to address mutual security concerns between Russia and NATO, including missile reductions in Europe.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday insisted on upholding NATO’s open policy amid the Russia-Ukraine tension.
“I think that it’s very important that we have a dialogue, that we have a conversation, but what we can’t do is trade away the sovereign rights of the Ukrainian people to aspire to NATO membership,” he said.
