Ukraine cannot join NATO in the conditions of hostilities on its territory. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market of the EU, stated this on the air of the BFM TV channel.
“[President of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelensky asked for Ukraine to join NATO, but, as you know, the question of joining the alliance cannot be raised during the period of hostilities on the territory of the country. And military actions are going on in Ukraine, and it’s hard to say when they will end, ”TASS quotes Breton.
On September 30, after the annexation by Russia of the “LPR”, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Kiev would apply to join NATO on an expedited basis. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities proved to the alliance that the country meets its standards. After that, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the procedure for admitting Ukraine to the alliance is regulated, the decision must be made unanimously by all members of the alliance. On October 2, nine NATO countries – the heads of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – issued a statement in support of Ukraine's entry into the alliance.