Berlin is not supportive of Kiev’s membership in NATO because it fears Moscow’s reaction, but will follow Washington’s lead, Vladimir Zelensky has stated.
The Ukrainian leader recently returned from a tour of Western Europe and the US seeking support for his “victory plan” in the conflict with Russia. While the US and its allies promised more weapons and ammunition, they have by and large not endorsed it.
“I say everything as I see it, and not as someone might like. The German side is skeptical about our joining NATO, and that’s a fact,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev on Monday.
He acknowledged that Germany is second only to the US in terms of financial and military aid to Ukraine, but argued that the authorities in Berlin “are afraid of the NATO-Germany topic, when it comes to reaction from Russia. That’s what it is.”
A “larger alliance” could have an influence on Germany’s opinion, Zelensky said, explaining that this means “a confident ‘yes’ from the US.” Kiev believes the US-led bloc is undergoing a “consolidation of opinion” on the matter of Ukraine’s membership, he added, which will “also have an impact on Hungary and Slovakia, for example.”
Budapest and Bratislava have publicly opposed the idea of admitting Kiev into NATO. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has even said that he would veto the motion as long as he is in charge, because it would trigger a world war.
Zelensky also claimed that the UK, France, and Italy have all appeared supportive of the so-called victory plan, but that all of Washington’s allies in Europe are waiting for the outcome of the American presidential election before committing openly.
Ukraine expected an invitation to NATO last year, and the lack of one triggered a meltdown by Zelensky on social media that reportedly threatened his relationship with the US. The bloc adopted a declaration stating that Kiev would become a member “when the allies agree and conditions are met.” That formulation was kept in this year’s declaration as well, though with a qualification that Ukraine’s path to NATO is “inevitable.”
Russia has signaled clearly that it will not accept anything but neutral status for Ukraine, and that without demilitarization and “denazification,” Kiev would continue to represent a national security threat.
“Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance in any territorial form is absolutely unacceptable to Russia and cannot be part of any peace plans or mediation initiatives,” Russia’s representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council on Monday.