NATO's stance on Ukraine has seen a mental shift, envoy says
Photo: Alyona Getmanchuk, Ukraine's ambassador to NATO (facebook.com/alyona.getmanchuk8)
For the first time, NATO countries have officially recognized at the leaders’ level that Ukraine is a joint contributor to Euro-Atlantic security. This decision opens up new opportunities for support from the allies, says Alyona Getmanchuk, head of Ukraine’s Mission to NATO, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
A mental shift within NATO
“For the first time, NATO member states, at the leaders’ level, stated in a declaration that Ukraine is a contributor to Euro-Atlantic security,” Getmanchuk said.
According to her, this reflects the mental shift currently taking place within NATO regarding Ukraine’s role in Euro-Atlantic security.
The diplomat explained that this recognition creates an opportunity to encourage Alliance countries to provide more support and make greater contributions to Ukraine’s defense.
“Today, in principle, we are mainly talking about financial contributions: either toward certain weapons or toward our own defense production, rather than simply transferring all possible Western weapons,” Getmanchuk said.
Contributions to Ukraine as investments in NATO’s defense
“Recognizing Ukraine as a contributor to security automatically turns all contributions in support of Ukraine into investments in Euro-Atlantic security, into investments in the national defense of NATO member states,” Getmanchuk emphasized.
Follow-up to the decisions of the Hague Summit
The diplomat noted that this decision is a logical continuation of the agreements reached at last year’s Hague Summit, which were successfully made effective.
“This concerns the decision whereby any military support or investments in Ukraine’s defense production are counted by a NATO member state toward its own defense spending,” she explained.
Getmanchuk recalled that at the NATO summit in The Hague, countries committed to reaching 5% of defense spending by 2035.
The Guardian previously reported that military planners working with NATO are concerned that Europe currently would not be able to withstand a prolonged war of attrition with Russia due to insufficient combat readiness.
Meanwhile, US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said that the United States is ready to support its allies in the event of Russian hybrid attacks, including following an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany, which Berlin linked to Moscow.
According to him, the next target of such attacks could be critical infrastructure, including energy facilities.
