On September 30, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, signed the application for the country's accession to NATO. It is assumed that the procedure should take place in an accelerated manner.

 RBC-Ukraine explains who supported Ukraine's accession to NATO and who might be against it.

 Ukraine is joining NATO

 The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after submitting the application, emphasized that our country has de facto already made its way to NATO. Ukraine is applying to do this de jure under a procedure that will be consistent with the country's importance to the protection of the entire community, namely in an expedited manner.

 He also emphasized that the example of Finland and Sweden showed that it is possible to join NATO without a Membership Action Plan.

 10 countries supported:

 Poland

 Czech Republic

 Estonia

 Latvia

 Lithuania

 North Macedonia

 Montenegro

 Romania

 Slovakia

 Canada

 The procedure for joining NATO

 The process of joining NATO may take some time, but the main thing is that it requires the consent of all participating countries to start. Today there are 30 of them, as Finland and Sweden have not yet officially become members of the Alliance.

 First, the applicant country submits an application for admission. If NATO members reach a unanimous decision, the candidate is formally invited to begin accession negotiations. This is the first step on the way to official membership, but there are several more stages to go through, including negotiations with the NATO group, confirmation of the reform schedule, signing and ratification of protocols, and a proposal from the Secretary General.

 The reaction of NATO and the USA

 NATO commented on Ukraine's application. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that any country can submit an application to the Alliance, and with regard to Ukraine, the Allies are primarily focused on military aid here and now.

 Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor to the US president, noted that now is not the time to start the process of accepting Ukraine into NATO. At the same time, US President Joe Biden emphasized that Washington will follow the current course in support of Ukraine.

Hungary can become a stumbling block

 Hungary, which has been a member of NATO since 1999, has chosen a pro-Russian position since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion and refuses to cooperate closely in ensuring Ukraine's defense capabilities, so it may be an opponent of Ukraine's entry into the Alliance. But the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, is convinced that Budapest will radically change its position in the event of Ukrainian victories, while the country will support Ukraine's accession to NATO.

 In the case of Sweden and Finland, Turkey became a serious opponent of their accession to NATO. Ukrainian diplomats believe that Ankara's position regarding Ukraine's application will not be so radical.

 Experience without chipboard

 Since 1996, all new NATO members have first gone through a Membership Action Plan. However, in the case of Sweden and Finland, NATO agreed to skip this stage on the way to the Alliance.

 The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, emphasized that the experience of Sweden and Finland changed the procedure for joining NATO. Ukraine was also told earlier that it is impossible to join the Alliance without the MAP, but now they understand that it can be done. In addition, the Vice-Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanyshyn noted that Ukraine no longer wants to receive an action plan for NATO membership due to the fact that Ukraine has implemented more than 300 NATO standards in recent months. Not all the armies of the bloc countries have such experience as the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

 We will remind that since 2019, Ukraine has enshrined in the Constitution the course for membership in the EU and NATO. This became a strategic goal of the state.