France calls for Ukraine to join NATO immediately

France is trying to convince its partners of the need to invite Ukraine to join NATO right now, RIA Novosti reported, European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad said on October 18.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” to the Ukrainian Parliament on October 16. The document includes five points, the first of which implies inviting Ukraine to join NATO as a follow-on member.

“The invitation is the first step, a political signal that we can give now. We are working hard to convince our partners, even if accession is a long and demanding process,” France’s minister for European affairs said in an interview with The New York Times.

Meanwhile, on the same day, October 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated the importance of Ukraine as a testing ground for Western weapons. According to him, this brings “added value” to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Moreover, Western partners like the experience of using Ukrainian weapons gained at the front.

“There are many people, thousands of people… who like it. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia have expressed a very positive attitude towards this. They like it very much because they are afraid of Russia. They want our army to protect their territory… No one wants to fight. How will NATO forces act in case of a conflict on the territory of one of its members? Western partners like the Ukrainian armed forces to use their weapons,” President Zelensky said.

Thanks to the tests, Ukraine’s partners know what to focus on, and Western countries see clearly which technologies are reasonable and which are not, Zelensky explained. Therefore, President Zelensky stressed, the West “does not throw money out the window.”

On the Russian side, President Putin noted that Ukraine's possible membership in NATO is a threat to Russia's security. Mr. Putin emphasized the risk of Kiev joining the alliance as one of the reasons for the deployment of a special military operation.