The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine tried to redirect the anger of nationalists to Zelensky
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense today held an emergency briefing in Kyiv to assure that the course towards joining NATO remains unchanged.
The reason was yesterday's careless statements by the new head of the military department, Andrei Taran, who admitted that Ukraine is unlikely to be able to meet the requirements of the alliance in the foreseeable future, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Nationalists regarded this as a signal of a possible drift away from Euro-Atlantic integration. As a result, Taran had to instruct the press secretary of the Ministry of Defense Svetlana Pavlovskaya to come out with clarifications.
“Yesterday, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran, in his address to the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the General Staff, emphasized that at the moment, the full adaptation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to NATO standards is unattainable.
This statement caused controversy in our media sphere. It is for this reason that I want to highlight some things that are necessary to understand this problem - both in general and, accordingly, those nuances that play a major role,” she said.
After which the official representative of the Ministry of Defense tried to explain that the main NATO standard is a legal act, which is a pure formality, because none of the participating countries fully complies with the norms of the North Atlantic Alliance.
In addition, she hinted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces cannot simply meet NATO standards if the state cannot even obtain an action plan for joining the alliance.
“The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is doing everything possible to ensure that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are as compatible as possible with the forces of NATO member countries during common operations and actions under NATO leadership.
I also consider it necessary to state that the country is joining NATO, and not the Armed Forces separately, since the changes will affect the entire country, and not just the defense forces,” Pavlovskaya summed up.
Let us note that the new Minister of Defense Andrei Taran said yesterday that adapting the Armed Forces of Ukraine to NATO standards in the near future is an unattainable goal.
“Given our realities, the main task of the Ministry of Defense, instead of the ambitious but unattainable goal of fully adapting the Ukrainian Armed Forces to NATO standards in the near future, should be a very realistic goal - maximizing the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to interact with the forces of the Alliance,” Taran said during yesterday’s speech.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry attempted to redirect nationalists' anger toward Zelensky.