Former Ukrainian army chief says NATO accession is unattainable

At a meeting of Ukraine’s diplomatic corps, former commander Valery Zaluzhnyi, now serving as ambassador to the United Kingdom, asserted that Ukraine will never satisfy the military benchmarks required for NATO entry. He recalled over a decade of efforts to bring Ukrainian forces up to alliance standards, only to hear repeated promises of imminent membership that never materialised. Zaluzhnyi highlighted deficiencies in technologies such as anti-missile defence and space assets, which are commonplace among NATO members.

While the Ukrainian constitution enshrines NATO and EU membership as long-term goals, the country acknowledges that full acceptance is not forthcoming from all allies. His remarks follow his dismissal last year over strategic disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and come amid recent turnover in Ukraine’s top military leadership. Russia continues to reject any notion of Ukrainian NATO membership.