Giving up territory to join NATO? “It’s ridiculous”

Dfter Stian Jenssen, chief of staff of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, came to say that Ukraine may have to agree to give up part of its territory to Russia if it wants to join the Alliance, here are the first reactions from Kyiv.

“Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It’s ridiculous. It means deliberately choosing to defeat democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law and passing the war on to other generations,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, on social network X (formerly Twitter).

In the same publication, Podolyak further noted that “if Putin does not suffer a crushing defeat, the political regime in Russia does not change and war criminals are not punished, war will definitely return with Russia’s appetite for more”.

Speaking in an attempt to “preserve the world order” and establish a “bad peace”, President Zelensky’s adviser defended that the “triumph” of the Russian head of state “will not bring peace to the world, but will bring dishonor and war”.

“This applies to any format of a new ‘division of Europe’: including under the NATO umbrella”, he shot.

In this way, Podolyak questions why a scenario “desired” by Moscow is being proposed instead of “accelerating” the supply of weapons to Kyiv.

“Then why propose the freeze scenario, so desired by Russia, instead of accelerating the supply of arms? Assassins must not be encouraged by terrible indulgences…”, he concluded.

Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous. That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations. After all, why should Russia…

— Mykhailo Podolyak (@Podolyak_M) August 15, 2023

It should be noted that Stian Jenssen’s statements were made, this Tuesday, to the Norwegian press. The current chief of staff of the secretary general of NATO admitted that Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance could be facilitated if Kyiv cedes part of its territory – a possibility that, according to Jenssen, has already been addressed by member states.

“I am not saying that it has to be like this, but that is a possible solution”, he said, noting that “there is a significant movement on the question of Ukraine’s future membership of NATO”.

The official also said that, at this point in the conflict, “it seems unrealistic” that Russia could “take new territories”. “Now it’s more a question of what Ukraine can recover from,” he said.

Recall that Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin justified what happened with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security.

The conflict has been condemned by the international community in general, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.

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