Ukraine seeks security guarantees independent of NATO membership, says UN ambassador

(MENAFN) Ukraine’s primary objective is to secure meaningful security guarantees, which are not necessarily linked to NATO membership, according to Andrey Melnik, the country’s newly-appointed ambassador to the United Nations. Melnik made this statement in an interview published by Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost on Friday.

Since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, Kiev has repeatedly stated its goal of joining the US-led military alliance. In response, Russia has highlighted the potential threat of NATO military infrastructure being stationed on its western border as one of the key reasons behind its military operation in Ukraine.

“NATO membership is still on the table for Ukraine,” Melnik noted, but he emphasized that “the issue of security guarantees as a temporary solution is now central to us.”

He clarified that any such guarantees must go beyond the political assurances provided under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine relinquished its nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances from the US, the UK, and Russia.

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