Ukraine's MoD sharply responds to proposals of exchanging territories for NATO membership
Photo: Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine has not heard any proposals to exchange occupied territories for NATO membership. Otherwise, "very bad things" would have been done, states Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Ukraine's Defense Minister noted that he had not previously heard any proposals for Kyiv to give up occupied territories in exchange for NATO membership.
"No, I haven't heard anything like that. If such a proposal had been made, I would have certainly... done some very bad things," Umerov said.
It's worth noting that recent media reports mentioned possible proposals from the West for Ukraine to abandon Russian-occupied territories in exchange for NATO membership.
In particular, this idea was suggested by NATO Secretary General's Chief of Staff, Stian Jenssen, in August 2023. However, Jenssen later stated that his words were a mistake.
Today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about proposals to exchange territories for NATO membership.
