The United Kingdom and Poland advocated accelerated accession of Ukraine to the North Atlantic Alliance. The ministers of foreign affairs of the countries – James Cleverly and Zbigniew Rau – expressed hope that Kyiv will be accepted into NATO under a fast-track procedure.
“Poland’s position here is very clear. We want to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the alliance in an institutional dimension. To adapt Ukraine’s military-political structures to those that are standard in the Alliance,” Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said after talks with his British counterpart.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have “great experience in using standard NATO equipment, NATO doctrine and NATO tactics.” The UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly is convinced that these skills should shorten the time to join the military-political union.
“The process by which Sweden and Finland applied to join, and Finland eventually joined NATO, was shortened because we admitted that they are highly capable military states. And I think we should think about that when we’re discussing what process would be appropriate for Ukraine. But I think we must admit their military capability has improved over the last 18 months,” Cleverly said.
The Ukrainian World Congress calls on NATO to launch the formal process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO. In an official letter to the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, the President of the UWC, Paul Grod, stressed that NATO membership for Ukraine was the only real option to ensure peace in Ukraine and the region.
