Ukraine–NATO relations

Relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started in 1991 following Ukraine's independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Ukraine-NATO ties gradually strengthened during the 1990s and 2000s, and Ukraine aimed to eventually join the alliance. Although co-operating with NATO, Ukraine remained a neutral country. After it was attacked by Russia in 2014, Ukraine has increasingly sought NATO membership.

Ukraine joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1994 and the NATO-Ukraine Commission in 1997, then agreed to the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan in 2002 and entered into NATO's Intensified Dialogue program in 2005. In 2010, during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian parliament voted to abandon the goal of NATO membership and re-affirm Ukraine's neutral status, while continuing its co-operation with NATO. In the February 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Ukraine's parliament voted to remove Yanukovych, but the new government did not seek to change its neutral status. Russia then occupied and annexed Crimea, and in August 2014 Russia's military invaded eastern Ukraine to support its separatist proxies. Because of this, in December 2014 Ukraine's parliament voted to end its neutral status, and in 2018 it voted to enshrine the goal of NATO membership in the Constitution.

Russian opposition to Ukrainian NATO membership has grown during the Russo-Ukrainian war. In early 2021, the Russian military began massing on Ukraine's borders. At the June 2021 Brussels summit, NATO leaders reiterated the statement made at the 2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would eventually join NATO. In late 2021, there was another massive Russian military buildup around Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Ministry demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining NATO. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied that the decision is up to Ukraine and NATO members, adding, "Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors." Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, falsely claimed that NATO was using Ukraine to threaten Russia. Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed the country's southeast.

Polls held before 2014 found low support among Ukrainians for NATO membership. However, Ukrainian public support for NATO membership has risen greatly during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and there has been overwhelming public support for joining NATO since the 2022 Russian invasion.

History

Ukraine's Declaration of Sovereignty, adopted by parliament in 1990, declared it had the "intention of becoming a permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three nuclear free principles" (art. 9).

Presidency of Leonid Kravchuk (1991–1994)

Relations between Ukraine and NATO were formally established in 1992, when Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council after regaining its independence, later renamed the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. On 22 and 23 February 1992, NATO Secretary-General Manfred Wörner paid an official visit to Kyiv, and on 8 July 1992, Kravchuk visited NATO Headquarters in Brussels. An important event in the development of relations between Ukraine and NATO was the opening in September 1992 of the Embassy of Ukraine in Brussels, which was a link in contacts between Ukraine and NATO.

A few years later, in February 1994, Ukraine was the first post-Soviet country to conclude a framework agreement with NATO in the framework of the Partnership for Peace initiative, supporting the initiative of Central and Eastern European countries to join NATO.
span> Гущин А. В. Украина после Евромайдана. Пять лет кризиса и надежд: рабочая тетрадь № 54/2019 [А. В. Гущин, А. С. Левченков; гл. ред. И. С. Иванов; Российский совет по международным делам (РСМД). — М.: НП РСМД, 2019. — 60 с. — ISBN 978-5-6042566-5-7Serhy Yekelchyk ''"Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation"'', Oxford University Press (2007),

Presidency of Leonid Kuchma (1994–2005)

Leonid Kuchma, who became president in July 1994, signed the quadripartite Memorandum on security assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons on 5 December. The memorandum prohibited the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine, "except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations." As a result of other agreements and the memorandum, between 1993 and 1996, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.

In the summer of 1995, Ukraine requested help to mitigate consequences of the Kharkiv drinking water disaster to the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs and to NATO. Various NATO countries and other organizations stepped up with medical and civil engineering assistance. This was the first cooperation between NATO and Ukraine.

The Constitution of Ukraine, adopted in 1996 and based upon the Ukrainian Proclamation of Independence of 24 August 1991, contained the basic principles of non-coalition and future neutrality.

Kuchma and Russian president Boris Yeltsin negotiated terms for dividing the Black Sea Fleet based in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, signing an interim treaty on 10 June 1995. But Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov campaigned to claim the city of Sevastopol which housed the fleet's headquarters and main naval base, and in December the Russian Federation Council officially endorsed the claim. These Russian nationalist territorial claims spurred Ukraine to propose a "special partnership" with NATO in January 1997. On 7 May 1997, the official NATO Information and Documentation Center opened in Kyiv; the Center aimed to foster transparency about the alliance. A Ukrainian public opinion poll of 6 May showed 37% in favor of joining NATO with 28% opposed and 34% undecided. On 9 July 1997, a NATO-Ukraine Commission was established.

In 2002, relations of the governments of the United States and other NATO countries with Ukraine deteriorated after the Cassette Scandal revealed that Ukraine allegedly transferred a sophisticated Ukrainian defense system to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. At the NATO enlargement summit in November 2002, the NATO–Ukraine commission adopted a NATO-Ukraine Action Plan. President Kuchma's declaration that Ukraine wanted to join NATO (also in 2002) and the sending of Ukrainian troops to Iraq in 2003 could not mend relations between Kuchma and NATO. Until 2006 the Ukrainian Armed Forces worked with NATO in Iraq. Most officials believed it would be too risky to allow Ukraine to join NATO as it would upset Russia greatly.

On 6 April 2004, parliament adopted a law on the free access of NATO forces to the territory of Ukraine. On 15 June 2004, in the second edition of the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, approved by President Kuchma, a provision appeared on the implementation by Ukraine of a policy of Euro-Atlantic integration, the ultimate goal of which was to join NATO. However, already on 15 July 2004, following a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission, Kuchma issued a decree stating that joining NATO was no longer the country's goal – only "a significant deepening of relations with NATO and the European Union as guarantors of security and stability in Europe."

Presidency of Viktor Yushchenko (2005–2010)

After the Orange Revolution in 2004, Kuchma was replaced by President Viktor Yushchenko, who is a keen supporter of Ukraine's NATO membership.

In April 2005, Viktor Yushchenko returned to Ukraine's military doctrine the strategic goal of "full membership in NATO and the European Union". The new text read as follows: "Based on the fact that NATO and the EU are the guarantors of security and stability in Europe, Ukraine is preparing for full membership in these organizations." As in the previous version, the task of "deeply reforming the defense sphere of the state in accordance with European standards" was called "one of the most important priorities of domestic and foreign policy." On 21 April 2005 in Vilnius, as part of an informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the NATO countries, a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission was held, which opened a new stage in Ukraine's relations with the alliance – "intensive dialogue", which was intended to be the first step towards Ukraine's entry into NATO. During President Viktor Yushchenko's first official visit to the United States, President George W. Bush declared: "I am a supporter of the idea of Ukraine's membership in NATO." A joint official statement by the presidents of Ukraine and the United States said that Washington supported the proposal to start an intensified dialogue on Ukraine's accession to the NATO.

On 20 January 2006 in Budapest, following a meeting of defense ministers of Central European countries – NATO members – Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia (which was attended by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anatoliy Hrytsenko) – it was announced that these states were ready to support Ukraine's entry into NATO. As stated, a necessary condition for this should be the support of this step by Ukrainian society and the achievement of internal stability in Ukraine.

On 27 April 2006 at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the representative of the NATO Secretary General, James Appathurai, stated that all members of the alliance support the speedy integration of Ukraine into NATO. Russia, for its part, expressed concern about this development. As the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Kamynin stated, "de facto, we will talk about a serious military-political shift affecting the interests of Russia, which will require significant funds for the corresponding reorientation of military potentials, the reorganization of the system of military-industrial relations. Arrangements in the field of arms control may be affected.”

After the Party of Regions received the largest number of votes in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election and the new government, headed by Viktor Yushchenko's political rival Viktor Yanukovych, was formed, there was a turn in Ukraine's foreign policy. By the end of 2006, not a single representative of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc remained in the government. Viktor Yanukovych's foreign policy statements contradicted Yushchenko's course. Yanukovych's premiership ended following 2007 parliamentary election, when Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc formed a coalition government, with Yulia Tymoshenko as Prime Minister.

Request for a NATO Membership Action Plan

At the beginning of 2008, the Ukrainian President, Prime Minister, and head of parliament sent an official letter (the so-called "letter of three") to apply for a Membership Action Plan (MAP). At the beginning of 2008 the work of parliament was blocked for two months due, according to at least one observer, to this letter.

Ukrainian membership in NATO gained support from a number of NATO leaders. However, it was opposed by opposition parties within Ukraine, who called for a national referendum on any steps towards further involvement with NATO. A petition with over 2 million signatures called for a referendum on Ukraine's membership proposal to join NATO. In February 2008, 57.8% of Ukrainians supported the idea of a national referendum on joining NATO, against 38.6% in February 2007. Ukrainian politicians such as Yuriy Yekhanurov and Yulia Tymoshenko stated that Ukraine would not join NATO as long as the public continued opposing the move. Later that year, the Ukrainian government started an information campaign, aimed at informing the Ukrainian people about the benefits of membership.

In January 2008, US Senator Richard Lugar said: "Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Parliamentary chairman Arsenii Yatsenyuk have signed the statement calling for consideration on Ukraine's entry into the NATO via the MAP programme at the Bucharest summit." The Ukrainian parliament, headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was unable to hold its regular parliamentary session following the decision of the parliamentary opposition to prevent parliament from functioning, as a protest against joining NATO. The parliament was blocked from 25 January 2008 until 4 March 2008 (on 29 February 2008 faction leaders agreed on a protocol of mutual understanding).

US President George W. Bush and both nominees for President of the United States in the 2008 election, U.S. senator Barack Obama and U.S. senator John McCain, backed Ukraine's membership in NATO. Russian reactions were negative. In April 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out against Ukraine's potential membership in NATO.

Bucharest summit

At the NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO decided it would not yet offer membership to Georgia and Ukraine; nevertheless, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that those two countries would eventually become members. Even though it was a powerful statement, one person cannot guarantee membership, especially before a country has applied for membership. Each existing member must approve an applicant country before NATO membership can be attained; in addition, conditions can be set on applicant countries before joining the organization. Resistance reportedly came from France and Germany. Russia invaded Georgia less than four months later in August 2008.

In November 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and Ukrainian minister of defence Anatoliy Hrytsenko doubted Ukraine would be granted a NATO MAP at NATO's December meeting. In a '' Times of London'' interview in late November, Yushchenko stated: "Ukraine has done everything it had to do. We are devoted to this pace. Everything else is an issue of political will of those allies who represent NATO." Although NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General Aurelia Bouchez and Secretary-General Scheffer still supported Ukraine's NATO bid at the time, the Bush administration seemed not to push for Georgian and Ukrainian MAPs in late November 2008. Condoleezza Rice told a press conference, "We believe that the NATO-Georgia Commission and the NATO-Ukraine Commission can be the bodies with which we intensify our dialogue and our activities. And, therefore, there does not need at this point in time to be any discussion of MAP." President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev responded that "reason has prevailed". On 3 December 2008, NATO decided on an Annual National Programme of providing assistance to Ukraine to implement reforms required to accede to the alliance without referring to a MAP.NATO To Work Out National Programme Of Assistance To Ukraine For Acceding Alliance
, Ukrainian News Agency (3 December 2008)] undated.

At the NATO-Ukraine consultations at the level of defense ministers held at the NATO headquarters in Brussels in November 2009, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised Ukraine's first Annual National Program, which outlined the steps it intended to take to accelerate internal reform and alignment with Euro-Atlantic standards, as an important step on Ukraine's path to becoming a member of the Alliance.NATO Secretary General says Annual National Program is important step on Ukraine's path to membership in Alliance
, Interfax-Ukraine (16 November 2009)

Presidency of Viktor Yanukovych (2010–2014)

During the 2010 presidential election campaign, Party of Regions leader and candidate Viktor Yanukovych stated that the current level of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO was sufficient and that the question of the country's accession to the alliance was therefore not urgent. Yanukovych's victory in the election marked a turnaround in Ukraine's relations with NATO. On 14 February 2010, Yanukovych said that Ukraine's relations with NATO were currently "well-defined", and that there was "no question of Ukraine joining NATO". He said the issue of Ukrainian membership of NATO might "emerge at some point, but we will not see it in the immediate future". On 1 March 2010, during his visit to Brussels, Yanukovych said that there would be no change to Ukraine's status as a member of the alliance's outreach program.Ukraine's Yanukovych: EU ties a 'key priority'
, ''Kyiv Post'' (1 March 2010) He later reiterated, during a trip to Moscow, that Ukraine would remain a "European, non-aligned state".Ukraine vows new page in ties with Russia
Retrieved on 9 March 2010

As of May 2010, NATO and Ukraine continued to cooperate in the framework of the Annual National Program, including joint exercises. According to Ukraine, the continuation of Ukraine-NATO cooperation would not exclude the development of a strategic partnership with Russia. On 27 May 2010, Yanukovych stated that he considered Ukraine's relations with NATO as a partnership, "And Ukraine can't live without this artnership because Ukraine is a large country."Yanukovych: Ukraine currently not ready to join NATO
, ''Kyiv Post'' (27 May 2010) On 3 June 2010, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill, proposed by the President, that excluded the goal of "integration into Euro-Atlantic security and NATO membership" from the country's national security strategy.Ukraine drops NATO membership bid
''EUobserver'' (6 June 2010) The law precluded Ukraine's membership in any military bloc, but allowed for co-operation with alliances such as NATO. According to at least one encyclopedia, this marks "when he Ukrainian governmentofficially abandoned its goal of joining NATO", although as late as May 2022, according to a member of the Shmyhal Government (Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna), the "letter of three" had "not been withdrawn since then." "European integration" was still part of Ukraine's national security strategy.

On 24 June 2010 the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved an action plan to implement an annual national program of cooperation with NATO that year.Cabinet approves action plan for annual national program of cooperation with NATO in 2010
''Kyiv Post'' (24 June 2010) This included:
* Involvement of Ukrainian aviation and transport material in the transportation of cargo and personnel of the armed forces of NATO's member states and partners participating in NATO-led peacekeeping missions and operations;
* The continuation of Ukraine's participation in a peacekeeping operation in Kosovo;
* Possible reinforcing of Ukraine's peacekeeping contingents in Afghanistan and Iraq;
* Ukraine's participation in a number of international events organized by NATO;
* Training of Ukrainian troops in the structures of NATO members.

Ukraine and NATO continued to hold joint seminars and joint tactical and strategical exercises and operations during the Yanukovych Presidency.Ukraine, NATO to hold security exercises during Euro 2012
, ''Kyiv Post'' (26 March 2012)
Yanukovych signs decree on Ukraine-NATO annual cooperation programs
, Interfax-Ukraine (12 June 2013)
Military manoeuvres in Ukraine

Presidency of Petro Poroshenko (2014–2019)

Yanukovych fled Ukraine amid the Euromaidan uprising in February 2014. NATO officials vowed support for Ukraine and worked to downplay tensions between NATO and Russia. In late February 2014, Secretary-General Rasmussen reaffirmed that NATO membership was still an option for Ukraine. As a result of this revolution, the interim Yatsenyuk Government came to power on 26 February.Maidan nominates Yatsenyuk for prime minister
, Interfax-Ukraine (26 February 2014) The Yatsenyuk Government initially stated that it did not intend to make Ukraine a member of NATO. Petro Poroshenko was elected president on 25 May 2014. On 1 October 2014, Jens Stoltenberg took over the position of NATO Secretary-General.

On 29 August 2014, following reports that the Russian military was operating within Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced that he would ask the Ukrainian parliament to put Ukraine on a path towards NATO membership. The government also signaled that it hoped for major non-NATO ally status with the United States, NATO's largest military power and contributor. As part of these efforts, and to rule out future Ukrainian membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and other Russian-led supranational entities, Yatsenyuk also submitted a draft law to repeal Ukraine's non-aligned status previously instituted by Yanukovych. Following parliamentary elections in October 2014, the new government made joining NATO a priority.

On 23 December 2014, the Ukrainian parliament renounced Ukraine's non-aligned status, a step harshly condemned by Russia. The new law stated that Ukraine's previous non-aligned status "proved to be ineffective in guaranteeing Ukraine's security and protecting the country from external aggression and pressure" and also aimed to deepen Ukrainian cooperation with NATO "to achieve the criteria which are required for membership in the alliance." On 29 December 2014, Poroshenko vowed to hold a referendum on joining NATO.

A number of joint military exercises between NATO members and Ukraine were planned in 2015. Among them were Operation Fearless Guardian (OFG), which totalled 2,200 participants, including 1,000 U.S. military. Initial personnel and equipment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast, on 10 April 2015. OFG would train Ukraine's newly formed Ukraine National Guard under the Congressionally-approved Global Security Contingency Fund. Under the program, the US Army was to train three battalions of Ukrainian troops over a six-month period beginning in April 2015. Other initiatives included Exercise ''Sea Breeze 2015'' (totalling 2,500 personnel of which 1,000 US military and 500 military from NATO or "Partnership for Peace" countries), "Saber Guardian/Rapid Trident – 2015" (totalling 2,100 members, including 500 US military and 600 NATO/PfP personnel), as well as the Ukrainian-Polish air exercise "Safe Skies – 2015" (totalling 350 participants, including 100 Polish military), and military police–focused exercise "Law and Order – 2015" (totalling 100 participants, 50 of which were Polish military).

In September 2015, NATO established five trust funds totalling €5.4 million for the Ukrainian army. €2 million were targeted at the modernization of communication systems, €1.2 million to reform the logistic and standardization systems, €845,000 for physical rehabilitation and prostheses, €815,000 for cyber defense, and €410,000 for retraining and resettlement.

In March 2016, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker stated that it would take at least 20–25 years for Ukraine to join the EU and NATO.

In July 2016, NATO published a summary of the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine (CAPU) after a Heads of State meeting in Warsaw. Ukraine declared a goal for their armed forces to become interoperable with those of NATO by 2020; the CAPU was designed to meet the needs of this process. The CAPU contained more than 40 targeted support measures in key areas:

# Capacity and Institution Building
# Command and Control, Communications, and Computers (C4)
# Logistics and Standardization
# Defence Technical Cooperation
# Cyber Defence
# Medical Rehabilitation
# Counter–Improvised Explosive Devices, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and Demining
# Security-related science
# Strategic communications
# Countering Hybrid Warfare
# Security Services Reform
# Civil Emergency Planning
# Energy Security

On 8 June 2017, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law making integration with NATO a foreign policy priority. In July 2017, Poroshenko announced that he would seek the opening of negotiations on a MAP with NATO. In that same month, President Poroshenko began proposing a "patronage system" that tied individual Ukrainian regions to various European States.

On 10 March 2018, NATO added Ukraine to the list of NATO aspiring members (which also included Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia). Several months later, in late June, Ukraine's parliament passed a National Security bill: the bill defined the principles of state policy on national security and defence as well as focusing on Ukraine's integration into the European security, economic, and legal systems; improvement in mutual relations with other states; and eventual membership in EU and NATO.

On 20 September 2018, parliament approved amendments to the constitution that would make the accession of the country to NATO and the EU a central goal and the main foreign policy objective.

On 7 February 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted with a majority of 334 out of 385 to change the Ukrainian constitution to help Ukraine to join NATO and the European Union. After the vote, Poroshenko declared: "This is the day when the movement of Ukraine to the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance will be consolidated in the Constitution as a foreign political landmark."

Presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy (from 2019)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was inaugurated on 20 May 2019. On 12 June 2020, Ukraine joined NATO's enhanced opportunity partner interoperability program.NATO Grants Ukraine 'Enhanced Opportunities Partner' Status
, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (12 June 2020) According to an official NATO statement, the new status "does not prejudge any decisions on NATO membership."

On 14 September 2020, Zelenskyy approved Ukraine's new National Security Strategy, "which provides for the development of the distinctive partnership with NATO with the aim of membership in NATO." On 8 October 2020, during a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine needed a NATO MAP, as NATO membership would contribute to Ukraine's security and defense.

On 1 December 2020, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran stated that Ukraine had clearly stated its ambitions to obtain the NATO MAP and hoped for comprehensive political and military support at the next Alliance Summit in 2021. Taran urged the ambassadors and military attaches of NATO member states, as well as representatives of the NATO office in Ukraine, to inform their capitals that Ukraine would hope for their full politico-military support in reaching such a decision at the next NATO Summit in 2021. This should be a practical step and a demonstration of commitment to the 2008 Bucharest Summit.

At the end of November 2020, it became known that the NATO Summit in 2021 would consider the issue of returning to an "open door policy", including the issue of providing Georgia with a MAP. On 9 February 2021, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, stated that he hoped that Ukraine would be able to receive an action plan for NATO membership at the same time as Georgia. In response, the NATO Secretary-General confirmed, during Shmyhal's visit to Brussels, that Ukraine was a candidate for NATO membership.

Russian military build-up around Ukraine

On 7 April 2021, after the start of the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis held a press conference with his Spanish counterpart Arancha González Laya and said that Lithuania intended to ask its NATO allies to provide Ukraine with a Membership Action Plan (MAP):

For her part, the Spanish foreign minister, despite the fact that Ukraine was not a member of the Alliance, said that the Allies' relations with it was already "fruitful, useful and are a symbol of NATO's vision of a peaceful neighborhood." She also added that the issue of Ukraine should be discussed at the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance, which was scheduled for June that year. Following in the footsteps of his Lithuanian counterpart, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said on 7 April that NATO should provide Ukraine with a MAP:

At the same April meeting, Stoltenberg said that "NATO firmly supports sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

On 10 April 2021, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran stated that the top priority of the Ukrainian political leadership was to obtain a MAP in the North Atlantic Alliance in 2021. According to the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the most convincing and effective mechanism for communicating the position of the international community to Moscow is "accelerating the implementation of the decision of the 2008 NATO Bucharest Summit on our membership in the Alliance." Receiving the MAP for Ukraine was also supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a joint declaration of the Ninth High-Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and the Republic of Turkey.

Following a meeting with Zelenskyy in May 2021, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said at a briefing in Kyiv that granting Ukraine a MAP would be the next logical step toward NATO membership. He stressed that Ukraine had already made several reforms necessary to become a member of NATO, and is prepared to carry out additional reforms. He also stated that if Ukraine and Georgia had received the MAP in 2008, there would have been no conflict with Russia at all:

On 2 June 2021, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy pointed out a potential threat that could strengthen Russia's position in Europe: the failure to give Ukraine a clear signal and specific deadlines for obtaining a MAP for NATO membership.

At the June 2021 Brussels summit, NATO leaders reiterated the decision taken at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance with the NATO MAP as an integral part of the process and that Ukraine had the right to determine its own future and foreign policy course without outside interference. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also stressed that Russia would not be able to veto Ukraine's accession to NATO:

On 28 June 2021, Ukraine and NATO forces launched joint naval drills in the Black Sea, codenamed ''Sea Breeze 2021''. Russia had condemned the drills, with the Russian Defense Ministry saying it would closely monitor them.

On 28 November 2021, Ukraine warned that Russia had massed nearly 92,000 troops near its borders, and speculated that Putin intended an offensive at the end of January or early February. Russia accused Ukraine of a military build-up of its own and demanded "legal guarantees" that it would never join NATO.

On 30 November 2021, Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow or missile defense systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for the Kremlin. Putin argued that these missile defense systems could be converted into launchers of offensive Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles. He said that "In a dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on working out specific agreements that would exclude any further NATO moves eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." Stoltenberg replied that "It's only Ukraine and 30 NATO allies that decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO. Russia has no veto, Russia has no say, and Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors."

On 17 December 2021, the Russian government demanded that NATO end all activity in its Eastern European member states and ban Ukraine or any former Soviet state from ever joining NATO, among other demands. Some of the demands had already been ruled-out by NATO. A senior US official said the US was willing to discuss the proposals, but added that there were some demands "that the Russians know are unacceptable". EU High Representative Josep Borrell said these demands went against the founding principle of European security, notably the Helsinki Accords of 1975, signed by European countries and the Soviet Union.

On 11 January 2022, it became known that a group of Republican congressmen intended to introduce a bill declaring Ukraine a NATO-plus country and initiating a review of the advisability of declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The authors of the bill argued that recognizing Ukraine as a "NATO+ country" will make it possible to quickly make decisions on the provision and sale of American defense goods and services to Ukraine. In particular, according to Mike Rogers, co-author of the bill, this rule concernd the provision of anti-ship and air defense systems. In addition, this bill proposed to create a mechanism for the rapid imposition of sanctions against Nord Stream 2 in the event of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The authors of the bill were convinced that in this way they will forever block the commissioning of the pipeline. Also, if adopted, the United States would be obliged to consider and vote on whether to grant Russia the status of a "country-sponsor of international terrorism."

On 14 January 2022, Andrii Yermak, Chairman of the Office of the President of Ukraine, praised the preparation of sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion, but warned that such an invasion "would be a great tragedy". He also said that the Ukrainian authorities hoped to hear specific conditions for joining the North Atlantic Alliance:

On 17 January 2022, Russian troops joined their Belarusian counterparts for an exercise aimed at "thwarting external aggression". The exercise began on 10 February. On 25 January 2022, NATO "firmly ruled out Moscow's core demand against further NATO expansion". Russia sought an end to NATO's "long-standing open-door policy for new member countries" and that NATO remove troops and equipment from Eastern Europe. Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov

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