A wide-ranging defense reform programme, announced by Kyiv in 2015 and strongly supported by NATO, has led to serious improvements in the Ukrainian armed forces’ capabilities and interoperability. NATO cooperation with Ukraine dates back almost 30 years and has seriously accelerated since the annexation of Crimea and the start of the ongoing war in Donbas. After all, NATO’s open door policy enshrined in Article 10 of its founding treaty welcomes ‘any European country in a position to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership, and to contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area’. Any guarantees ruling out future Ukrainian membership in the alliance, which President Putin reportedly demanded from his US counterpart during their meeting on 8 th December, have been strictly rejected. Russian military activities have been accompanied by various warnings from Moscow about ‘red lines’ regarding NATO’s military support of Ukraine and the latter’s potential membership in the alliance.

The current build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s eastern border has led to much speculation about the Kremlin’s intentions and to fears about another invasion in the coming winter months. It would be wrong to lay all the blame for problems in the current NATO-Ukraine partnership at Kyiv’s door.

However, criticism about the slow pace of reforms has led to doubts about the effectiveness of costly Western assistance programmes. NATO continues to express unwavering solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Ukraine-nato 2020