Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine announced the plans of Kyiv to join NATO

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna said that Kyiv does not take Ukraine’s non-bloc status seriously after Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership. She made the corresponding statement in an interview with European Pravda.

“Therefore, we do not take any statements of the Russian Federation very seriously and will be ready to return to the discussion after the liberation of our territories”– said Stefanishina.

At the same time, Ukraine is not considering a Membership Action Plan (MAP), but plans to immediately join the Alliance.

“If Ukraine was offered a MAP before February 24, we would be most satisfied with this decision, happy and would consider that we have fulfilled the requirements of our constitution, and this is the only right decision. But today we are only interested in membership,” the politician added.

The country is already actively cooperating with NATO, but Ukraine’s inclusion in the MAP does not guarantee its security, unlike membership.

“In matters relating specifically to security guarantees, only membership can change the situation. Sooner or later, Ukraine will become part of the alliance if NATO exists until such a window of opportunity exists,” she concluded.

The British newspaper The Guardian on August 24 published an article in which it writes that the State Department for years ignored the warnings of CIA head William Burns about the danger of NATO expansion to the east, and especially Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance.

In early August, FOX News host Tucker Carlson recalled that the Russian authorities several times called Kyiv’s likely entry into NATO, promoted by Washington, a “red line.”

In early July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the best guarantee of the country’s security its entry into NATO. He added that Kyiv has not abandoned “this path.”

May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that NATO grossly violated its obligations not to strengthen security at the expense of others.

“Our NATO colleagues under the leadership of the United States, who have subjugated the entire West, it is now obvious to everyone, have flagrantly violated … their obligations not to strengthen their security at the expense of others,” Lavrov said.

He added that the result of such a line of the West was the “unrestrained expansion” of NATO to the east.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the European Union in matters of security began to merge with NATO and “go under it.”