Ukraine Joining NATO 'Logical' After Fighting Its 'Arch Enemy'—Ambassador

Ukraine will join NATO regardless of continued Russian opposition, the country's top representative in the United Kingdom has predicted, as Kyiv formulates its demands to end Moscow's 10 month-old invasion.

Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, who has previously served as Ukraine's foreign minister, ambassador to Canada, and representative at NATO in Brussels, told Newsweek in an interview at Kyiv's embassy in London that NATO's deep support for, and growing collaboration with Ukraine means it is "logical" that his nation would join the transatlantic alliance. It is "silly" to pretend otherwise.

"Our conversation with the rest of the world—at least the Western world—should be very easy. Ukraine wins, becomes a member of the European Union and NATO. And that's it," Prystaiko said.

"It's not just that we deserve it because so many of us have been killed and our country [destroyed]. No, it's because it is quite reasonable to include a 40 million-plus nation, the last one before [reaching] Russia."

"NATO is just logical," the ambassador continued. "Ukraine will be full of NATO weaponry, and the people will be prepared. So what is the difference? Just place a seat at the table."

We've been exposed to more and more NATO culture altogether," he said. "So we're becoming interoperable because we're doing it on the ground. And that's why I'm sure that whether the political decision is here or not now, we will be a part of NATO. People just have to get used to that."

Ukraine has long sought NATO membership, having been denied a Membership Action Plan—a key step on the way to accession—at the alliance summit in Bucharest in 2008. The alliance did, however, agree in 2008 that Ukraine would one day become a member, a commitment reaffirmed in November.

The ambition is enshrined in Ukraine's constitution alongside its European Union membership goal, and Russia's full-scale invasion since February has pushed support for joining NATO to historic highs among Ukrainian voters.

President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted an official bid for membership in September, after Russia claimed to have annexed four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions.

"De facto, we have already made our way to NATO," Zelensky said. "De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards...Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure."

Ukraine's NATO trajectory is symptomatic of the country's broader drift away from Moscow's orbit, and a potent bugbear for the Kremlin, which considers it further evidence that the transatlantic alliance is seeking to surround and smother Russia.

Blocking Ukraine from NATO membership has been a key goal of decades of Russian meddling, and a key justification for the February invasion. The Kremlin has tried to frame its invasion as a war against all of NATO, and a preemptive strike to prevent future aggression by the Western alliance.

Russia will almost certainly fiercely oppose any hint of Ukraine's NATO ambitions in any future peace deal. Kyiv is demanding concrete security guarantees as a key part of any settlement, and Ukrainian leaders say there exists nothing comparable to NATO's collective defense umbrella.

President Vladimir Putin's costly gambit has backfired, according to Prystaiko.

"If somebody is not happy that the Warsaw Pact is over and NATO is taking its place, let's finish up the last pieces," he said, referring to the Soviet-era bloc that encompassed much of eastern and central Europe before being dissolved in 1991. Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia should all be in line for the transatlantic group.

"For Ukraine to become a member of NATO, we'll have some troubles with some of the members. We understand who [and] we know what they want...As a really big organization, they have so many interests at play," Prystaiko said.

"But that's a totally different level of conversation in comparison to having on your side one million people, battle-hardened soldiers who just proved that they actually defeated the second biggest military and the arch enemy of NATO."

"I believe that now, to hide from Russia that Ukraine wants to and will become a member of NATO is just silly," the ambassador added. "Who doesn't understand that?"

And what Russians believe that Ukraine will not become a member?" Prystaiko said: "On the level of soldiers, generals, and colonels, they know."

"At the end of the day, this is a political decision," he said, noting that consensus can form quickly in the right circumstances, as it did for the proposed memberships of Finland and Sweden, which have still not been ratified with Turkey and Hungary the last holdouts.

An irreversible shift

NATO leaders have refused Moscow's demands to exclude Ukraine from future membership, defending the alliance's open-door policy as sacrosanct and agreeing that Kyiv will one day be admitted.

Alliance and American officials have, however, been clear there is no short-term prospect of accession. The same is true for EU membership, though Kyiv has been granted candidate status—an important step on the way to final accession.

Prystaiko urged a more direct approach from Ukraine's foreign partners.

"People are coming up with all these creative political speeches. I believe the speeches should be very simple," he said. "The leaders of NATO and the U.S. should say: 'You're fighting, you are courageously doing that, you will lose many of yours. But hey, the EU and NATO are waiting for you. Just finish up with this work. Do whatever is needed.'"

He continued: "I can totally see why people are saying we just have to work on forming this consensus. It's obvious that Ukraine will be a member of the EU, it's just a big economy, and they'll come to rebuild.

"Why would they waste their money on a non-member?...Our political system is not perfect, but iteration after iteration it will get closer and closer to what has already been done in new EU member states."

Ukraine's westward shift is irreversible, Prystaiko said, noting that Kyiv is exploring the possibility of changing its railway gauges to the EU standard and moving away from the Russian imperial-era gauge it shares with its former Soviet counterparts. It may seem niche, but such proposals have significant economic, political, and social implications.

"Ukrainians are talking now about changing the gauge of the railroad system," Prystaiko said. "At the same time, even the calendar, the churches, the faith—everything is changing...this natural tendency of getting closer to the West is just there.

"I just hope that somebody sitting in the Kremlin is telling Putin: 'What you're doing and what you've achieved is actually quite the opposite of what you wanted. The Ukrainians are moving further and further from us.'"

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.