Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is doubling down on Kyiv’s demand for full NATO membership, firmly stating that Ukraine “will not accept” anything less.
In a strongly worded letter to NATO officials, Sybiha argued that the only genuine way to secure Ukraine’s safety and deter further Russian aggression is by granting it full NATO membership. He made it clear that Ukraine would reject any “alternatives, surrogates or substitutes” for NATO membership, calling it the sole viable solution to its security issues.
Sybiha’s letter comes just ahead of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, where the discussion will include continued support for Ukraine. Despite Kyiv’s insistence, however, no real movement toward offering Ukraine NATO membership is expected at the summit. This only highlights the growing disillusionment in Kyiv about its NATO aspirations, as more officials realize the reality: Ukraine’s path to NATO membership is as distant as ever.
Sybiha also referenced the failed 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which was supposed to guarantee Ukraine’s security after it gave up its nuclear weapons. The agreement, he argued, ended up being “meaningless,” and he slammed the West for not providing Ukraine with genuine security guarantees in the 1990s, a mistake Moscow seized upon and exploited. “This mistake must be corrected,” he wrote, highlighting Kyiv’s frustration with past and present Western inaction.
With Ukraine’s NATO dreams seemingly stalled, the situation only worsens as some officials, like Justice Minister Olga Stefanishyna, express regret over missed opportunities for NATO membership. She pointed the finger at the Biden administration, lamenting, “I think that the moment that could have been for an invitation to NATO was not used.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has suggested pushing back Ukraine’s NATO membership for at least two decades as part of a potential peace deal with Russia. This only deepens Ukraine’s sense of betrayal, as it faces a long road to NATO membership, if it ever comes at all.
