NATO moved rapidly Tuesday to guarantee Ukraine of its assist following remarks by one in all its senior officers.
Speaking throughout a panel dialogue in Norway, Stian Jenssen, the NATO secretary normal’s chief of workers, proposed that Ukraine surrender a part of its territory to Russia in alternate for NATO membership in an effort to finish the battle.
“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get NATO membership in return,” he mentioned, including nevertheless that “it must be up to Ukraine to decide when and on what terms they want to negotiate,” the Norwegian tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang reported on Aug. 15.
Jenssen famous, nevertheless, that this was solely one of many attainable options and never NATO’s stance on the difficulty.
An official supply from the Alliance responded.
“We fully support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as NATO leaders reaffirmed at the Vilnius Summit in July. We will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary, and we are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace,” he mentioned.
NATO has repeatedly mentioned that it’s for Ukraine to determine on the time and circumstances of peace with Russia.
– ‘Absolutely unacceptable’
Ukrainian officers slammed Jenssen’s remarks in statements on social media.
“Talk about Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for giving up part of Ukrainian territories is absolutely unacceptable,” mentioned Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko on Facebook.
“We have always assumed that the Alliance, like Ukraine, does not trade territories. The conscious or unconscious participation of NATO officials in shaping the narrative regarding the possibility of Ukraine’s giving up its territories plays into the hands of Russia,” Nikolenko mentioned.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak mentioned on the social media platform X that ceding territory in alternate for NATO membership would imply “deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
