Ukraine–NATO relations
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Relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started in 1991 following Ukraine's independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[1] Ukraine joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1994 and the NATO-Ukraine Commission in 1997, then agreed the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan in 2002 and entered into NATO's Intensified Dialogue program in 2005. Although Ukraine initially declared neutrality and non-alignment with military blocs after independence,[2] it has sought NATO membership after it was attacked by Russia in 2014.[3]
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In 2010, during the premiership of Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian parliament voted to abandon the goal of NATO membership and re-affirm Ukraine's neutral status, while allowing for continued co-operation with NATO.[4] In the February 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Ukraine's parliament voted to remove Yanukovych, but Ukraine remained a neutral country.[5][6] Russia then occupied and annexed Crimea, and in August 2014 Russia's military invaded eastern Ukraine to support its separatist proxies. Because of this, in December 2014 Ukraine's parliament voted to end its neutral status,[7] and in 2018 it voted to enshrine the goal of NATO membership in the Constitution.[8][9]
At the June 2021 Brussels summit, NATO leaders reiterated the decision taken at the 2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would eventually join NATO.[10] In late 2021, there was a massive Russian military buildup around Ukraine. Russia's Foreign Ministry demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining NATO.[11] NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied that the decision is up to Ukraine and NATO members, adding "Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors".[12][13] Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, falsely claimed that NATO was using Ukraine to threaten Russia.[14] Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed the country's southeast.[15][16][17]
Polls conducted between 2005 and 2013 found low support among Ukrainians for NATO membership.[18][19][20][21][22][23] However, since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, Ukrainian public support for NATO membership has risen greatly. Since June 2014, polls showed that about 50% of those asked supported Ukrainian NATO membership.[24][25][26][27] A 2017 poll found that some 69% of Ukrainians wanted to join NATO, compared to 28% in 2012 when Yanukovych was in power.[28]