'Cracks' in NATO could open up more opportunities for Ukraine's integration into Alliance - Politico

Ukraine's Ambassador to NATO Aliona Hetmanchuk said that the recent turmoil in the Alliance could open up more opportunities for Ukraine's integration as US President Donald Trump said he was seriously considering his country's withdrawal from the Alliance.

She told Politico about this.

"Instead of talking about the collapse of NATO, I would prefer to talk about rethinking the alliance," she said.

Hetmanchuk argues that, "paradoxically," these upheavals could open up more opportunities for Ukraine's integration into the alliance, helping NATO become "far more effective, lethal, innovative, and capable of countering the Russian threat."

The ambassador disputed Trump's claim that NATO is a "paper tiger" that cannot intimidate russian dictator vladimir putin. She emphasized that while the kremlin has been trying to undermine NATO for decades, it has not yet dared to directly attack any of the alliance's member states.

Hetmanchuk added that NATO's Article 5 remains a "role model" in terms of security guarantees, which is not the case with the EU's mutual defense provisions. And, according to her, Ukraine is seeking "an Article 5-like arrangement" because NATO membership "is currently politically out of reach."

The publication pointed out that the desire to join NATO did not blind Ukraine to the significant cracks within the Alliance. The ambassador acknowledged that trust had been undermined, in part because of "NATO's behavior in the first years of the war, when it deliberately tried to distance itself from all key processes related to providing Ukraine with the most necessary support — lethal weapons."

Hetmanchuk noted that today Kyiv has a position of a partner that can offer the Alliance something in return for its assistance.

"Even without being a NATO member, we are the only country that, in practice, is already implementing the Alliance’s Strategic Concept," she said, referring to a document that defines key goals and directly names adversaries whose aggressive behavior must be stopped.

According to her, Ukraine is a key partner of the Alliance in "confronting the most immediate and serious threat, which is Russia."

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that after the end of the military operation in Iran, the United States will have to reconsider relations with NATO.

Also, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week as Trump publicly considers the possibility of the US withdrawing from the Alliance over the war in Iran.

Pentagon and congressional sources told Politico earlier that despite Donald Trump's recent statements about a possible US withdrawal from NATO over disagreements over the Strait of Hormuz operation, in practice, the administration is not taking steps to implement such a scenario.