According to her, because of the position of the United States and several other countries, Kyiv today does not “bring forward” questions either about membership or about inviting Ukraine to NATO.
There is also an understanding that the aggressor country of the Russian Federation managed to successfully integrate this issue into the negotiation efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war, the ambassador added.
Getmanchuk noted that today there is no consensus among NATO member countries regarding the invitation and membership of Ukraine in the Alliance.
“Although we also see that if we analyze the history of Ukraine’s relations with NATO, today the smallest number of NATO member countries are against Ukraine becoming a NATO member in the future,” the ambassador said.
She added that the Alliance has always had “a certain circle of countries” that opposed Ukraine’s entry.
“This circle gradually narrowed. And the change in the position of some countries really became a milestone. These are countries like France, like Germany,” Hetmanchuk informed.
Context
Ukraine intensified cooperation with NATO after the occupation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression in Donbass in 2014. The Constitution of Ukraine enshrines the course towards gaining full membership in the Alliance. A year after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, in July 2023, NATO member countries simplified the path for Ukraine to join the bloc, but did not provide an official invitation to Kyiv.
The declaration of the NATO summit, held July 9–11, 2024 in Washington, states that “The future of Ukraine is in NATO.” Separately, during the summit, NATO agreed to create a NATO Security Assistance and Training Unit for Ukraine (NSATU) to better coordinate the provision of military equipment and training to Ukraine.
On April 5, 2025, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed that Ukraine’s path to NATO is irreversible. However, US President Donald Trump believes that Ukraine will not be able to become a member of NATO.
