Kyiv Rejects ‘NATO Surrogates’, Calls for Full Membership as Security Guarantee

On the opening day of the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement emphasizing that full NATO membership is the only viable security guarantee against Russian aggression.

The statement, which also marked the 30th anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum, categorically rejected any alternative security arrangements.

“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine's full membership of NATO,” the Ministry declared.

The Foreign Ministry criticized past security agreements, including the Budapest Memorandum, which it called a “monument to short-sightedness in strategic security decision-making.”

This agreement, signed in 1994, committed Ukraine to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for assurances of territorial integrity—assurances that, Kyiv pointed out, failed to prevent Russian aggression.

“Not providing Ukraine with real, effective security guarantees in the 1990s was a strategic mistake that Moscow exploited. This mistake must be corrected,” the ministry stated.

Citing recent security pacts signed in 2024, the Ministry emphasized that these agreements explicitly state they are not substitutes for NATO membership.

“With the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not accept any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO,” it said.

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The Ministry urged political support from the US, the UK, France, China, and other signatories of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, calling on them to endorse an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO.

It argued that Ukraine’s accession would serve as a powerful deterrent against Russian aggression and counter Russian nuclear blackmail.

The Ministry also warned that Russia’s actions, in violation of the Budapest Memorandum, have undermined global trust in nuclear disarmament and spurred renewed interest in nuclear arsenals across regions from the Indo-Pacific to Europe.

The timing of the statement aligns with the NATO ministerial meeting and coincides with discussions around Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.

Earlier, President Zelensky suggested the possibility of joining NATO under partial application of Article 5, though exact details of how that would be achieved remain unclear.

At the same time, in a recent Sky News interview, Volodymyr Zelensky proposed that a ceasefire could be achieved if NATO extends protection to territories under Kyiv's control. This move, he suggested, could temporarily resolve the war, allowing for future diplomatic efforts to reclaim Russian-occupied regions.

Zelensky emphasized the urgency of bringing unoccupied Ukrainian lands under NATO's umbrella while acknowledging that eastern areas currently under Russian control might remain outside of the remit of such a deal for now.