The war with Russia would have ended if Ukraine had joined NATO, and Europe's security would have been stronger. However, this should be a joint decision of the Alliance member states.
This opinion was expressed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Gael Vesier during the presentation of the results of the sociological survey "Foreign Policy and security. The mood of Ukrainian society," the correspondent reports UNN.
France is very supportive of Ukraine's movement to join NATO, we have no problems with this, but the truth is that it should be a joint decision of the NATO member countries. In other words, there may be a situation where joining NATO will not take place in the short term. It would be great to do it – it's fast, but you need to take the situation into account and think about track two. I would say that Ukraine would be safer with NATO. If Ukraine joined NATO, the war would end and Europe's security would be stronger. This is what we believe in, but it should be a joint decision of NATO members
When asked what is meant by track two, Wesier said:
You need to think more broadly about what security guarantees mean in the world we live in…
Add-ons
On December 3, the foreign ministry said in a statement that, given the experience of the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine would not agree to any alternatives to full membership in NATO.
On December 9, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was going to call President Joe Biden in the near future and raise the issue of inviting Ukraine to NATO.
Deputy head of the Office of the president of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva said that conversations about receiving an invitation from Ukraine to NATO at this stage will continue in the future and with absolutely all partners, all 32 members of the Alliance.
Politico, citing its own sources, reported that Germany and the United States are not the only countries that block invitations for Ukraine to join NATO. Hungary, Slovakia, Belgium, Slovenia and Spain are also resisting.