'Ukraine will be 2nd strongest NATO member' in Europe, Latvian FM says
Ukraine will have the second-strongest military in NATO on the European continent once it joins the alliance, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said on Oct. 1.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum attended by the Kyiv Independent, Braze pointed out that Ukraine's military will have "experience in battle" and a "clear political commitment to be the best."
"Ukraine will be the second strongest NATO member, at least on the European continent," the minister noted, adding that it will be surpassed only by the major military players like the U.S. and Turkey.
Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022 but has yet to receive a formal invitation.
Despite high expectations in Kyiv, the last two allied summits brought only new steps toward deepening Ukraine-NATO cooperation and a declaration that the country's membership path is "irreversible."
Since the outbreak of the full-scale war, Ukraine has not only mobilized a large force to fend off the Russian invasion but also received extensive Western arms supplies and training and has deepened interoperability with NATO militaries.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said during the same discussion that his country "must be a part of the transatlantic family" and that the transatlantic community needs Ukraine to "guarantee security" and "get more competitive advantages."
Responding to a question on what the West can do to help Kyiv further, Sybiha named the necessity of acknowledging Ukraine's future NATO and EU membership. This entails implementing policies that recognize this, for example, in the EU budget.
"This budget must reflect... that Ukraine is the member of the EU, it must be the budget of enlargement."
Ukraine's chief diplomat also listed crucial military capabilities that his country needs, including "air defense systems, artillery shells, and drones" and a help with scaling up Ukraine's defense industry.
Sybiha further underscored the need for international support for Ukraine's peace formula. He explained that President Volodymyr Zelensky's victory plan, recently presented in the U.S., does not replace the formula but serves as a tool for its implementation.
"Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, no compromises on our territorial integrity and sovereignty, and no compromises with the aggressor at the expense of Ukraine," the foreign minister named Kyiv's conditions.
"We don't have the privilege to tolerate gray zones or frozen conflicts in Europe," Sybiha said, stressing that the matter of territorial integrity includes Crimea.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
