Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky has stated that if the country is not accepted into NATO, it may form its own military alliance. He made the comment during a meeting of “Support Ukraine” on Monday.
According to Zelensky, NATO is a “simple, affordable and reliable way” to ensure peace in Europe and the alliance can also provide security guarantees that Kiev deserves alongside its EU membership.
If a NATO membership for Ukraine is ruled out, Kiev would have no other option but to “build a NATO in Ukraine” the President continued. This would mean that Ukraine would establish the financing, contingents and arms production needed to provide a peace guarantee.
Zelensky added that Ukraine is not capable of doing this alone and thanked its partners, who are willing to help. He emphasized that security guarantees are the key to peace and the more reliable they are, the longer the peace will last.
Among the security guarantees Ukraine needs, Zelensky mentioned EU membership and the financing of a Ukrainian army of at least 800,000 men.