Czech President considers Ukraine’s NATO membership possible despite partial occupation
Photo: Czech President Petr Pavel (Getty Images)
Ukraine's accession to NATO should not depend on full control over its entire territory, stated Czech President Petr Pavel.
According to Pavel, he expects that Ukraine will be able to reach a peace agreement with Russia in the coming years. Such an agreement could mean that Russia occupies part of Ukraine's territory for a long time, but without democratic states agreeing to change the borders.
“I don't think that the full restoration of control over the entire territory is a mandatory condition. If there is a demarcation, even of the administrative border, we can consider this administrative border as temporary and accept Ukraine into NATO on the territory it will control at that time,” he said.
As an example, he mentioned Germany, which was divided, but despite the division not being recognized by all Western countries, part of Germany was accepted into NATO.
"Therefore, I believe there is both a technical and legal solution to allow Ukraine to join NATO without dragging NATO into a conflict with the Russian Federation," he added.
Ukraine's NATO membership
In early July, the 75th NATO summit took place in the United States. During the summit, participants decided to increase NATO's presence in Ukraine. As part of this, the appointment of a NATO special representative in Kyiv was agreed upon.
Additionally, during the NATO summit, partners agreed to create a structure for coordinating long-term assistance to Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed a desire to discuss with NATO allies a coalition to destroy Russian missiles in Ukrainian skies.
