Since Ukraine became independent in 1991, its attitude towards NATO, the grand defensive alliance of the West, has come a long way.
What started out with Kyiv’s non-aligned status, which delighted Russia, turned into Ukraine at war looking for membership at any cost.
But relations between Ukraine and NATO have never been simple. Even as Kyiv makes rapprochement with the alliance its holy grail, this complicated three-decade romance doesn’t seem headed for a resolution. Ukraine keeps introducing new defense reforms while NATO headquarters keeps saying that the “door is open.” This has been going on for years, with no end in sight.
Why is that?
There’s a chance to find out during the upcoming Kyiv Post webinar that will be streamed live on Sept. 14 and feature Ukraine’s key speakers on the issue.
In the meantime, here are 10 top fun facts about Ukraine-NATO relations that are important to know:
Kyiv-NATO dialogue was launched at the very dawn of Ukraine’s independence
The newborn Ukraine established relations with NATO as far back as March 1992, just months after becoming independent.
The Cold War was over, and Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, along with most of the former Soviet Union’s republics. The new council was established to launch a new dialogue between Western countries and their former foes.
Military cooperation started as early as 1994
Like other post-Soviet countries, Ukraine also joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1994.
This effectively paved the way for Ukraine’s participation in many of the alliance-led peacekeeping operations. Many of the program’s other nations, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, or the Baltic countries eventually ended up joining the alliance. Unfortunately, Ukraine did not.
Ukraine is among the most active NATO peacekeeping partners
Since then, Ukraine joined multiple NATO-led peacekeeping efforts.
Ukrainian peacekeepers have been with NATO in Afghanistan (until June 2021) and are still in Kosovo with the KFOR mission. Kyiv also joined NATO’s effort in Iraq in 2019, but due to the complicated security situation in the region, this deployment has yet to unfold. Ukraine also wants to contribute its warships to NATO’s Operation Sea Guardian, which ensures security in the Mediterranean.
Ukraine was a “non-aligned” nation before 2014
Despite multiple councils, meetings and memorandums between Kyiv and Brussels, Ukraine’s leadership kept Ukraine a ‘non-aligned state’ for many years. This benefitted no one but Russia, which gained more and more influence over Kyiv.
Things started to change under President Viktor Yushchenko, who declared that Ukraine will move westward in the mid-2000s. It would not last. Under pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, the ‘non-aligned status’ was even enshrined in law in 2011 and Ukraine’s rapprochement with NATO was halted.
This has had tragic consequences for Ukraine, which ended up nearly defenseless when Russia invaded Crimea and Donbas in 2014. In late 2014, during fierce fighting in the east, the Ukrainian parliament threw out the ‘non-aligned status.’
Bucharest Summit effectively halted Ukraine’s path to NATO
The Alliance’s Bucharest Summit of 2008 has a nasty reputation as a turning point at which NATO failed to give Ukraine a chance to join the club and possibly save itself from Russia’s upcoming invasion.
The grand meeting was widely expected to be the place where Ukraine (and Georgia) were going to get their Membership Action Plan. This never happened.
As a result, Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008 and occupied 20% of its territory. The Kremlin’s ongoing war in Donbas has already claimed over 13,000 lives.
Ukraine’s path to NATO is enshrined in Constitution
In early 2019, Ukraine’s parliament introduced a constitutional amendment proclaiming the country’s membership in NATO and the European Union as key national foreign policy goals. No nation that had joined the alliance since 1991 had done this as part of its membership effort.
NATO integration is also a key provision of Ukraine’s national security strategy and military doctrine.
Since 2016, the national defense sector follows a plan to adopt NATO’s key institutional and operational standards, to make Ukraine’s Armed Forces and other security branches compatible with alliance practices.
Ukraine is an Enhanced Opportunities Partner
Even though getting membership is still just a possibility, Ukraine has gained numerous benefits by being a close partner of NATO. In 2020, it finally joined the Enhanced Opportunities Partner program and gained access to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency to purchase advanced hardware under corruption-proof contracts.
Ukraine already has a full-fledged, NATO-certified combat unit
In 2019, Ukraine’s 140th Special Operations Center (based in Khmelnytskyi) was certified as a fully combat-capable special operations formation under NATO benchmarks. It was even welcomed into the NATO Response Force (NRF), the alliance’s unified military force capable of immediate deployment wherever necessary. It’s the first non-NATO country’s special forces unit to reach such an achievement.
NATO holds large military drills in Ukraine
Besides cooperating on overseas operations, Ukraine and NATO forces also exercise a lot.
Each and every year, the sides hold the Rapid Trident drills in western Ukraine, with many alliance nations involved. In 2021, the program hosted 6,000 troops from 15 countries.
NATO rapprochement is pretty popular in Ukraine
Despite decades of being forced to be “non-aligned” by their leaders, Ukrainians are increasingly positive towards NATO membership.
According to the latest poll held in August by the Rating Group, 54% of respondents want to see their country as part of the alliance. Upon that, the support is the strongest among young Ukrainians.
