Invitation to NATO part of Ukraine's victory plan, Yermak confirms
An invitation to join NATO is part of Ukraine's victory plan, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak said during a visit to the U.S. on Sept. 24.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to present the victory plan to U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. He also plans to discuss it with presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
"Ukraine's invitation to NATO is part of the victory plan," Yermak said in a post on Telegram.
According to the information obtained by the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 22, Ukraine would ask for NATO membership within the months, not years.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Yermak said that the five-point victory plan includes both diplomatic and military components.
"I also urged our partners to ignore Russia's threats of escalation," he said.
Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022, half a year into Russia's full-scale invasion.
The July NATO summit in Washington ended with the launch of the Ukraine Compact, a security framework signed by 32 allies. The countries affirmed Kyiv's "irreversible" path toward membership, though Ukraine did not receive any definitive news about its future accession.
Biden said that peace in Ukraine means a guarantee that Russia will never occupy the country again, but Kyiv's membership in NATO is not necessary for this.
According to Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on partners to issue a membership invitation to Kyiv, Ukraine will join NATO only after Russia's full-scale war ends.
Dinara Khalilova
