Ukraine: NO!

"Having the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not be satisfied with any alternatives, surrogates or replacements for Ukraine's full membership in NATO," the statement said just two days before the 30th anniversary of the signing of the memorandum.

By the way, the ministers of foreign affairs of the NATO countries are meeting in Brussels on December 3 and 4, with the participation of Ukraine. Kyiv urged the allies to issue an invitation to Ukraine for membership in the alliance during the meeting, but Reuters reported that there was no consensus on the matter.

Ukraine gave up its arsenal of Soviet-era nuclear weapons in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for recognition of its borders and security guarantees by the US and Russia, among others.

In today's statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on "the USA and Great Britain, which signed the Budapest Memorandum, ... France and China, which acceded to it, and all the countries participating in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" to support Ukraine's membership in NATO and to counter Russian blackmail attempts.

Kyiv Independent reminds that last week the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky proposed ending the "hot phase" of the war along the Eastern Front, in exchange for the country's membership in NATO, not including the immediately occupied territories.

However, several member countries of the Alliance remain opposed to Ukraine's rapid accession to the alliance, including Germany, Slovakia and Hungary.