Ukraine 'asks NATO for membership at meeting next week', as Zelenskyy says he'll end 'hot war with Russia'
30 November 2024, 11:19
Ukraine has urged NATO to admit it to the alliance at a meeting next week in a letter sent by its Foreign Minister.
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Andrei Sybiha's message to NATO comes after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be willing to end the "hot phase of the war" if Ukraine gave up the alliance.
President Zelenskyy said that such a proposal had "never been considered" because it had never "officially" been offered.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha said that "the invitation should not be seen as an escalation" in the letter, seen by Reuters.
"On the contrary, with a clear understanding that Ukraine's membership in NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for continuing this unjustified war," he wrote.
"I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on 3-4 December 2024."
Speaking on Friday to Sky News, Mr Zelenskyy appeared to accept that occupied eastern parts of the country would not be included in a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Any invitation should be given "within its internationally recognised border, you can't give invitation to just one part of a country", Mr Zelenskyy said.
"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," he told Sky.
"We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way."
He said a ceasefire was necessary to "guarantee that Putin will not come back" and attempt to take more of Ukraine's territory.
Nato should "immediately" cover the parts of Ukraine that remain under Kyiv's control, he said. He warned that Putin would otherwise return.
A former NATO official told LBC that Mr Zelenskyy would be "crazy" not to build up Ukraine's defences in the event of any ceasefire.
Mark Laity told LBC's Matthew Wright said: "We need to recognise... if you just have a ceasefire in place, an armistice, and you do not then enable Ukraine to defend itself properly and build up its forces, then there will be a third invasion.
"So what he's saying is, in effect, I will concede territory, but I need then to be able to defend what I have left. And the Russian point of view is they would regard this as an interregnum, so they would maybe take the armistice.
"But what they're demanding is in effect, a demilitarised Ukraine, in effect, setting itself up for the next piece of territory they take, and then the total overcoming, so that the two go together.
"Ukraine would be crazy to have an armistice unless it can build up its forces and defend itself for the next attack".
Last month, Mr Zelenskyy revealed he had a victory plan which could bring peace next year.
It contained a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.
His latest remarks come in the same week that Russian drone and missile attacks have hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, leaving more than a million people without heat and power in freezing temperatures.
British PM Keir Starmer discussed the attacks with Mr Zelenskyy in a call on Thursday.
Downing Street said the leaders "discussed the egregious Russian missile strike in the early hours of this morning, which had deprived more than a million people of heat, light and electricity".
The Prime Minister described the "systemic attacks on Ukraine's energy sector" as "depraved", No 10 said.
Following reports that a fresh consignment of Storm Shadow missiles have been sent to Kyiv, Mr Zelenskyy said in his call with Sir Keir "we discussed advancing our defence cooperation and strengthening Ukraine's long-range capabilities".
