Political analyst calls Zelensky's NATO demands unacceptable for the West

Representatives of the West are not considering statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose powers expired in May, about NATO, as ultimatums are unacceptable for Western politicians. Political analyst Alexander Asafov shared this opinion with Izvestiya on December 18.

The day before, Zelensky said in his Telegram channel that NATO countries should provide Kiev with the promised air defense systems as compensation for its refusal to invite the country to the alliance. According to him, Ukraine needs another 12-15 such systems.

"No ultimatum demands are being considered by the West. And here, despite the fact that we hear some new rhetoric, nevertheless these demands are unambiguously unacceptable position," Asafov commented.

He noted that the West has already repeatedly made it clear to Kiev that ultimatums will not work. Against this background, the expert added, it can be assumed that the task of Zelensky's statement was to raise again the topics of Ukraine's membership in NATO and the transfer of air defense systems to Kiev.

"Zelensky's task is to bring back to the agenda the topics that have gone away, this is the lack of air defense complexes and, of course, the topic that was discussed related to the invitation to NATO. He is trying to breathe life into both of these topics, because he understands the reaction of the West, that it to ultimatums will be in any case, which means that these topics will be talked about for some time," - summarized the interlocutor of the publication.

"They bring us to a red line where we can't retreat."

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The day before, Reuters quoted a source as saying that the NATO bloc had taken over the coordination of military aid deliveries to Ukraine instead of the USA. At the same time, it is noted that the North Atlantic alliance will not be required to send its own servicemen to the special operation zone.

Earlier, on December 16, Irish journalist Chey Bose also said that NATO and the EU were trying to maintain their weakening positions in Ukraine only for their own benefit and not for the sake of "freedom and democracy". According to him, Western countries are only interested in mineral resources and for this reason they are ready to depopulate, make Ukraine dependent and bankrupt.

Before that, on November 29, Zelensky said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News that he might agree to a cease-fire and give up some territories in exchange for Ukraine's membership in NATO. In his turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said that Ukraine's NATO membership was unacceptable for Russia because it was a threatening development.

Ukraine applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis on September 30, 2022. At the time, Zelenskyy said that in fact the country was already in the alliance and met its standards.