London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Ukraine formally applies for fast-track NATO membership

Ukraine formally applies for fast-track NATO membership

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg shies away from directly endorsing Ukraine’s bid, but stresses alliance is open to new members.
Ukraine on Friday formally requested an “accelerated accession” to join NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced — a response to Russia formally annexing four Ukrainian regions.

“We trust each other, we help each other and we protect each other. This is what the Alliance is. De facto. Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure,” Zelenskyy said during a video address.

The move was intended to draw attention away from Vladimir Putin’s elaborately staged speech earlier in the day, in which he announced the annexations to an audience seated under gilded chandeliers.

But there wasn’t any indication that Ukraine’s request would advance its membership hopes, which have been in limbo for years. The prospect of Ukraine joining NATO has long fueled frustration for Moscow, which regularly rails against the military alliance’s eastward expansion in recent decades.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday evening reiterated the alliance’s unchanging position that it is open to new members but shied away from directly endorsing Ukraine’s bid.

“Every democracy in Europe has the right to apply for NATO membership and NATO allies respect that right, and we have stated again and again that NATO’s door remains open,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

He added that NATO members recently affirmed at a summit in Madrid that they “support Ukraine’s right to choose its own path, to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of.”

Stoltenberg was direct, however, that the alliance’s immediate focus is on the war.

“A decision on membership, of course, has to be taken by all 30 allies and we take these decisions by consensus,” he said. “Our focus now,” he added, “is on providing immediate support to Ukraine, to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian brutal invasion.”

NATO allies in 2008 pledged that Ukraine would eventually become an alliance member. But as that process stalled over the years, it seemed increasingly unlikely that Ukraine’s bid would become a reality.

But Russia’s war has upended the geopolitical landscape, reopening the question of Ukraine’s possible membership. In recent months, NATO has also welcomed the application of two other new members in Europe — Finland and Sweden.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Moscow requested binding guarantees from Kyiv not to join the U.S.-led security alliance, and used this as a pretext for launching the invasion.

Zelenskyy’s announcement came mere hours after Putin, in his speech, vowed to use all the powers at his disposal to defend the four Ukrainian he annexed following hastily organized sham referendums in each. European countries condemned the votes as a pretext to further “violate” Ukraine’s sovereignty.

During his address, Putin called upon Kyiv to cease military action and said Moscow was open to negotiations, although Ukraine has long insisted that it will not stop fighting until Russian forces entirely leave the country.

Zelenskyy responded in his own address, saying that while Ukraine was open to negotiations, such talks were “impossible” with Putin, and would have to be with another Russian president.

In his comments on Friday, NATO’s Stoltenberg warned that Putin’s mobilization of fresh troops, his “nuclear saber-rattling” and illegal annexation represent “the most serious escalation since the start of the war.”

But, the NATO chief said, “none of this shows strength — it shows weakness.”

“It is an admission,” Stoltenberg said, “that the war is not going to plan and that Putin has utterly failed in his strategic objectives.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×