NATO members intend to offer Ukraine a renewed format of relations to demonstrate political support for its membership application. However, any concrete road map for entry is still a more distant prospect.
This is reported by Euracitiv.
It is noted that Ukraine's application to join NATO has so far remained unanswered, but it will probably be the main topic of the Vilnius Summit of the Alliance in July. Meanwhile, the idea of raising Ukraine's status in NATO is gaining support.
Currently, the parties meet within the framework of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, which manages cooperation activities and is a forum for consultations between the members of the Alliance and Ukraine on security issues of common interest.
At the same time, NATO countries seek to raise the status of Ukraine in their relations by creating the Ukraine-NATO Council, which will be the first step in strengthening the political partnership between the Alliance and Kyiv.
The Ukraine-NATO Council
According to the plan, Ukraine will be a "full" member at the table of the Ukraine-NATO Council, and not just invited for discussions, as envisaged by the Ukraine-NATO Commission.
Then Ukraine could call meetings whenever it wants, it would be easier for it to provide direct information about the situation on the battlefield. It will also open the door to a wide range of new areas of cooperation that did not exist before, the publication reports citing sources.
Such a format of cooperation may include a greater exchange of intelligence, as well as consultations, joint exercises, investments in the defense industry, and work on interoperability between the armed forces of Ukraine and NATO member states, which will give Kyiv the opportunity to agree on communiques and Alliance standards.
Likewise, some NATO member states noted that the Russian Federation has a joint NATO-Russia Council, although the meetings no longer take place, and their partner Ukraine does not.
The creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council would contribute to the formation of Ukraine as a future member of the Alliance, which would help bring it as close as possible to NATO standards to ensure a smooth transition when the time comes, diplomats believe.
NATO summit in Vilnius
At the July summit of the Alliance, Ukraine would like to receive a political decision on support for its accession to NATO, although the country understands that it will be able to become a full member only after the end of hostilities.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that Ukraine does not see and does not want an alternative to NATO membership, so it expects from the summit in Vilnius an "accession schedule", that is, a clear algorithm of movement for joining the Alliance.
In addition, Ukraine wants to receive security guarantees from NATO member states, which cannot in any way be an alternative to membership.
Foreign media reports that Western countries want to offer Ukraine a model of security guarantees similar to the one Israel has. The main guarantor can be the USA. According to Western officials, such an agreement could change the course of the war, and the document would help advance Ukraine on its way to NATO.
