Ukraine could be invited to NATO even at current war stage - think tank

This is one of the main conclusions of the new analytical document "Security Matrix of Ukraine", drawn up by the New Europe Center think tank, reports Ukrinform.

"Whatever the way to the end of the war, for Ukraine, it must necessarily go through security guarantees. This should become a fundamental prerequisite put forward by Kyiv officials for any diplomatic scenario of the end of the war or even its potential suspension," authors believe.

The New Europe Center is convinced that in order to start implementing security guarantees in the most widespread political interpretation, that is, with the existing elements of collective defense, there is no need to wait for a “after-the-victory” period.  Some of these elements can and should be applied already at the stages of a possible cease-fire/truce.

"That is why the gigantic work, unprecedented for Ukraine, on concluding security agreements (currently it’s 26 agreements) must be supplemented in parallel lines with efforts on unblocking Ukraine's accession to NATO – if not at once, then gradually, when all of Ukraine will be invited to the Alliance within internationally recognized borders, but Article 5 will gradually cover only the territories controlled by Kyiv (this is a significant difference from the partial accession, or the West German model, where not only the accession, but also the invitation to NATO was addressed exclusively to West Germany)," the analytical paper states.

The Security Matrix of Ukraine contains a set of security options for Ukraine under various war scenarios. This is a detailed table, which lists possible security solutions/options within the framework of a certain security vector at a certain stage of the war. For example, the invitation to NATO in the "inter-summit" period at the current stage of the active war phase, the effective filling of the "Coalition of the Resolute", the supply of weapons and equipment, military training, financial assistance, and deploying troops to Ukraine, etc.

The New Europe Center attempted to offer a helicopter view of the current situation, offering a complete picture in the form of visualized analytics – a detailed table, where the horizontal axis is various security tools-paths (NATO, EU, security agreements, etc.), and the vertical one is various stages of war. Possible security solutions-options within a certain security vector at a certain stage of the war are laid down in the relevant cells.

A detailed presentation of the Security Matrix of Ukraine is published on the website of the New Europe Center.