Ukraine Responds to NATO Official’s ‘Land for Membership’ Comment

Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mikhail Podoliak rejected the idea of abandoning his country’s territorial claims in exchange for NATO membership. The only solution, he declared, is the West “speeding up the supply of weapons”.

“Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous,” Podoliak wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, adding, “If [ Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not suffer a crushing defeat, the political regime in Russia does not change, and war criminals are not punished, the war will definitely return with Russia’s appetite for more,” RT reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, said that the US-led bloc could potentially offer Ukraine a deal whereby it “gives up territory, and gets NATO membership in return”. Such an idea, he claimed, was being talked about within NATO as a “possible solution” to the conflict.