"As fast as Sweden or Finland": Melnyk calls for NATO membership - with a nuclear strike argument

Created: 05/19/2022, 16:19

By: Magdalena von Zumbusch

"If Ukraine were in the alliance, the risk of a nuclear war would decrease," said Ambassador Melnyk, pleading for Ukraine to join NATO as quickly as possible.

Berlin - As the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk has repeatedly attracted attention with at least "pointed" statements in the service of his country - for example, after a canceled visit to Ukraine, he called Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "offended liver sausage".

In response to Sweden's and Finland's applications for membership, Melnyk once again brought up the idea of ​​Ukraine joining NATO.

In the past few days, Sweden and Finland and the blocking of their NATO membership applications by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been the focus of attention.

On Thursday, Melnyk recalled Ukraine's continued desire to join: his country's accession to NATO could be implemented just as quickly as Finland's and Sweden's.

In doing so, he expresses himself more demanding than President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who recently expressed his resignation about Ukraine's desire to join.

Video: Zelenskyj on the desire to join NATO - resigned to the fact that it won't happen now

“One thing is clear: we want to join NATO quickly.

This can happen just as quickly as in the case of Sweden or Finland.

It would only take a purely political decision to swiftly integrate Ukraine into the alliance,” Melnyk told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Thursday (May 19).

He sees a decreasing risk of a nuclear attack by Russia: According to Melnyk, Ukraine's NATO accession could intimidate Vladimir Putin: "If Ukraine were in the alliance, the risk of a nuclear war would decrease.

Then Putin would know: If Ukraine were attacked with nuclear weapons, he would have to reckon with a nuclear retaliation.

That would stop him."

NATO membership for Ukraine?

Military efficiency and willingness to help are important

The central (but relatively abstract) prerequisites that are checked before membership is accepted are summarized on

: Whether the candidate country is a democratic country, whether it treats minorities in its country equally, is dedicated to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, the ability and has the will to engage militarily in NATO, promotes positive relations between the military and the civilian population and, finally, whether it is a European country.

At the 2021 NATO summit in Brussels, the NATO heads of state and government reaffirmed the "open door policy" for Ukraine.

They called on the country to continue with the reforms necessary for accession.

However, joining NATO in the current crisis situation is hardly conceivable, because: Another basic requirement for admission is that the candidate is not in a conflict situation - in view of the Ukraine conflict escalating into war, a requirement that Ukraine is currently fulfilling cannot fulfil.

Because of the war, Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join the Western Defense Alliance on Wednesday (May 18).

If Erdogan should finally give his consent to joining NATO, the two countries could already be members by the end of the year - the USA in particular had shown confidence that it could still change Turkey's mind.

Melnyk sees a similarly rapid accession to Ukraine as possible, contrary to the criteria that Ukraine clearly cannot currently meet - with the participation of Germany, he hopes.

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Ukraine wants Germany to play a “leading role in this historic process”

Melnyk made it clear that he hoped the German federal government would set the course: "The main thing for us now is to maintain candidate status.

Then the negotiation process can begin.

This is an important political decision.” With this decision, he hopes that the federal government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz will promote candidate status: He imagines the German government “playing a leading role in this historic process”.

The ambassador also said in passing that he also believes that Ukraine's EU membership is possible within the next ten years.

President Selenskyj had recently commented on this.

However, Ukraine's entry into the EU in the near future is considered rather unlikely.

On the one hand, the EU treaties do not provide for a fast-track procedure.

Practice also shows that negotiations can drag on - a period of several years is not unusual for accession negotiations to the EU.

The decisive factor is whether the candidate meets the so-called "Copenhagen Criteria" - that means in particular certain democratic, constitutional and economic standards.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also dampened expectations in a government statement on Thursday.

Melnyk on his own role in the Ukraine war: "Sometimes there is no other way than to offend rhetorically"

The ambassador also commented on himself: he didn't want to offend anyone with his often criticized sharp choice of words.

"But sometimes there's no other way than to rhetorically offend, even to provoke," says Melnyk.

He found it disappointing that decisions such as the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine had been repeatedly postponed.

“We are very grateful to the Germans, who took in around 700,000 of my compatriots.

But I think it should be embarrassing for these very people who are helping so much.

They talk directly to the Ukrainian refugees, know their concerns and then probably ask themselves: Why isn't the federal government doing enough to stop this barbaric war in Russia?" (

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