The words about a ‘bridge’ to Ukraine's NATO membership in the final declaration of the Washington Summit are evidence that our country is ready to be de facto integrated into NATO without waiting for the end of the war. And right now, NATO member states are moving to establish systematic and sustainable assistance to Ukraine.
This was stated by Yehor Chernev, the MP, Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Ukraine to the NATO PA.
“After the war is over, it will be possible to politically admit Ukraine to NATO quite quickly, having 32 ‘yes’ votes. The Bridge is, first and foremost, the sustainable financing of our assistance, the 40 billion agreed upon by the allies, which protects us from possible future political upheavals. It is also the creation of a mission in Germany that will coordinate all assistance to Ukraine, and thus it will be transformed from the Ramstein format into mandatory assistance to Ukraine in arming and training our military,” the politician noted.
According to him, the work of the mission in Germany is intended to structure the provision of assistance to Ukraine.
“We are grateful to our partners who are helping in the Ramstein format, but this is done on a voluntary basis: whoever found what, how much they found, they handed over. From now on, this will be done in a more structured way at the base in Wiesbaden, Germany. This is done in order to systematise, record and secure assistance to Ukraine for the next year, and maybe for a longer time, as our partners say they will support us not only during the war, but also later in the process of reforming our armed forces to be compatible with the Alliance,” the MP said.
He also added that the appointment of Ukraine's ambassador to NATO raises the status of Ukraine's representation in the Alliance for greater integration and coordination.
“This appointment gives us a more in-depth interaction with the Alliance, because we are actually on the same level as other partner countries that have their ambassadors at NATO headquarters and have representation at the level of NATO ambassadors in their capitals,” the MP said.