What is neutrality?
Under international law, a country is neutral if it does not intervene in situations of international armed conflict involving other parties to a conflict. It may not allow a warring party to use its territory as a base for military operations, to take up positions or to procure military equipment.
What did Zelensky say?
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged on March 15 that Ukraine was unable to join NATO. “We have heard for years that the door is open, but we have also heard that we can not participate. “This is a truth we recognize very much,” Zelensky said in statements that are seen as abandoning Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and being seen by some Ukrainians as an unacceptable concession. In peace talks in Turkey on Tuesday, Ukrainian negotiators said Kyiv was ready to accept neutrality if, under an international agreement, Western states such as the United States, France and Britain provided binding security guarantees. However, Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO is enshrined in the country’s constitution, which cannot be amended during martial law, as it stands now, or in a state of emergency.
Could Ukraine change its constitution?
Any change would require the measure to be approved by 300 of the 450 lawmakers in two separate parliamentary sittings and then ratified by the constitutional court. “There are not 300 votes today, but if the conflict continues and we see that NATO is not helping, views could change,” said Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko. “Zelensky’s frustration with inadequate NATO assistance is changing public opinion. “For us, NATO is the simplest and least painful concession.”
What do the Ukrainians want?
According to the latest poll conducted by the polling company Rating earlier this month, 44% of Ukrainians believe that their country should join NATO, a drop of two percentage points from the poll conducted in February before the start of the Russian invasion. About 42% believe that Ukraine should continue to cooperate with NATO but not join. “Ukrainians want to join NATO, but if Europe offers EU membership and proposes an economic package to rebuild Ukraine, the NATO debate could be forgotten for a while,” said Mykola Davydiuk, a political analyst based Kyiv. “If Britain, France and the United States – the three nuclear powers – provide security guarantees, such an alliance would be stronger than NATO membership,” he added. Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey on Tuesday compared the security guarantees they want with Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, where members agree to defend each other in the event of a military attack. With Agence-France Presse
