Zelenskyy on Ukraine in NATO: Article 5 won’t cover all territories during war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Photo: RBC-Ukraine, Vitalii Nosach)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the briefing after a meeting with the new EU institutional leadership, indicated that if Ukraine joins NATO, Article 5 collective security guarantees might not apply to all Ukrainian territory. However, he rejected the notion of a partial invitation to the alliance.
According to him, Ukraine will never legally recognize Russia's occupation of its territories. As for NATO, membership in the alliance will be the best security guarantee.
He also noted that there can be no invitation to NATO for a part of Ukraine's territory. This is an automatic recognition that all other territories are not Ukrainian.
“If there is an invitation, it must include all our territories. Still, as we discussed, we understand that Article 5 cannot be applied to all of Ukraine during the war because member states want to avoid being drawn into it. Ukraine has never sought to involve NATO armies in this war,” Zelenskyy added.
Zelenskyy also stressed that he would never request NATO to send troops to Ukrainian territory.
“Do we want this? Of course, we would be happy. Because [the Russians] have allies like North Korea and Iran, and we are fighting alone. But if I were to raise the issue of needing your troops on the ground, with or without NATO, half of our allies would immediately stop their support. That’s why I cannot take that risk,” Zelenskyy explained.
Zelenskyy on joining NATO
In an interview with Sky News, Zelenskyy said that NATO membership could help stop the active phase of the war with Russia. He noted that any invitation should include clear provisions about Ukraine’s borders.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. We need to do it fast. And then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said.
However, no official proposals from Ukraine’s partners have suggested such a scenario.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha earlier called on Western partners to formally invite Ukraine to NATO during the ministerial meeting in Brussels on December 3-4.
While NATO maintains that its doors remain open for Ukraine, it has yet to provide a clear timeline for membership. The alliance has emphasized that joining is not possible until the war ends.
Several influential member states, including the United States and Germany, oppose fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership. The potential return of Donald Trump as U.S. president poses further risks, as it could delay Ukraine’s accession by several more years.
