Russia would not have started the war if Ukraine were a NATO member. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with CNN; he urged NATO to show its support for Ukraine to stop civilian deaths.
"If we were a member of NATO, the war would not have started. I would have wanted security guarantees for my country, for my people," Zelensky said, adding that he was grateful for the help NATO has provided since the invasion began.
"If NATO members are ready to see us in the Alliance, do it immediately, because people are dying every day. But if you're not ready to keep our people alive, if you just want to see us between two worlds, if you want to see us in this precarious position where we don't understand whether you can accept us or not - you can't put us in this situation, you can't force us to be in this uncertainty," Zelensky said.
Zelensky said that Ukraine now does not claim to activate the fifth article of the NATO Treaty, because the Alliance lacks certainty.
