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A NATO official who spoke to Türkiye Today, on the condition of anonymity, stated on Tuesday that integrating Ukraine into the alliance's operations is "not on the table at this time," even as Ukrainian troops take part in NATO drills and Kyiv escalates its drone campaign deep inside Russia.
Asked whether Ukraine's growing role in NATO exercises and counter-drone defense work signaled a step toward official integration into alliance operations, the NATO official said two separate concepts were at play.
"I think two different concepts are going on over here. You are talking about integration; it's not on the table at this time, but the collaboration that we have with Ukraine is extremely important. Currently, we are learning a lot from them; they are the most battle-ready armed forces on the planet at this time, and these are lessons we want to bring into the NATO enterprise. We have dedicated officers for this who work on this full time in Poland."
"Our HQ also works very closely with Ukrainians about innovation challenges in our programs, but most of that is not deliberately focused on integrating it or focused on bringing those lessons into our own military instrument of power, threat, because let's face it, the threat landscape that Ukrainians face every day and bravely stand fast in is different from the threat landscape we see it at NATO. There are these differences we'll also need to take into account: blind integration, I don't think it's a solution, but learning from each other is absolutely yes," the official said.
The official said NATO has dedicated officers in Poland working full time on absorbing lessons from Ukraine's military and that NATO headquarters works closely with Ukrainian counterparts on innovation challenges within alliance programs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the war has entered a new phase focused on control of the skies, describing long-range drone strikes as central to Ukraine's strategy, in a series of posts on Telegram.
"When not a hundred drones fly in Moscow, but a thousand, and when he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) feels and sees it, he will be advised to move somewhere beyond the Urals," Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine's strikes had put it in control of Russia's fuel and energy complex. "We cut off logistics and took control of the fuel and energy complex," he said.
The Ukrainian leader renewed calls for additional Western military assistance, particularly air defense systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, saying Ukraine urgently needs more interceptor missiles.
Russia has repeatedly condemned Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on its territory as "terrorist attacks," saying they mostly hit civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskyy expanded on the strategy behind the strikes, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin had not taken the war seriously in Moscow and St. Petersburg until deep strikes began reaching those cities.
"When not one hundred drones but a thousand start reaching Moscow, and when he feels it and sees it, he will be advised to move somewhere beyond the Urals. That will be a moment that opens a new chapter on the path toward ending the war. The farther Putin is from Moscow, the closer the end of the war and peace will be," Zelenskyy told the Financial Times.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had launched an operation targeting Russian-occupied Crimea that combined deep strikes and mid-range strikes to slow militarization of the peninsula, hitting military bases, depots, air defense systems and logistics sites.
"We cut off logistics and brought the fuel and energy sector under control. We showed what it means to operationally control the skies at a specific point, at a specific time," he told the FT.
Zelenskyy said the front line had largely stopped moving on the ground, shifting the contest to the skies, noting, "Today, the fight is for the skies. This is a shift in the priorities of this war," he said, adding that Ukraine lacks anti-ballistic missile defense capability, calling it "a major problem."
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