Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for Ukraine to join NATO on the first day of the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Thanking leaders “who have clearly stated Ukraine belongs in NATO, because NATO with Ukraine is the alliance for the future,” he asked: “Do you really believe it would be right to leave outside NATO, a country and a people with this level of defensive capability?”
Zelensky pointed towards Ukraine’s advanced drone technology and argued it makes sense for these “capabilities to become a part of the alliance's collective defense."
Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership has long been documented and is a point of contention for Russia.
At the annual NATO summit last year, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said: “NATO has no business in Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, neither Russia, my job is to keep it as it is.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has previously told Zelensky to forgo his NATO ambitions “if he wants to” end the Russia conflict.
Zelensky has had more success in his endeavor to join the European Union, as Ukraine moved a step closer to E.U. membership last month after member states opened the crucial first negotiating cluster.
In his NATO summit address, Zelensky also doubled down on his call for allies to deliver air defense systems, insisting Ukraine needs U.S.-made interceptors to defend itself against Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Currently, the top-end of European air defense capability relies heavily on U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems, but Zelensky said “Europe urgently needs its own capability to produce anti-ballistic systems and the missiles they require."
“The one thing we still need to do here in Europe is build a strong defense against Russia's ballistic missiles. It's a big challenge… this is Russia's last major advantage,” he added.
Zelensky'
