Ukraine, NATO and the EU: How to combine the desirable and the possible

The strategic foreign policy goal of the Ukrainian state remains unchanged: joining NATO and the European Union. The vast majority of Ukrainians, according to various sociological surveys, also support Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Moreover, these processes are gaining additional relevance for us as guarantees of Ukraine's security in the postwar period.

Recently, however, it has become increasingly clear that new problems and obstacles are emerging on our path to NATO and the EU, or that the problems that existed before are becoming much more severe and complicated. In fact, the recent NATO and EU summits have shown this. We need a thorough analysis of the new foreign policy situation and, possibly, a situational correction of our interaction with NATO and the EU. It is not a question of changing the strategy, but rather of greater tactical flexibility. In a broader sense, we need to find an answer to the question: how to combine the desirable and the possible in the processes of Euro-Atlantic and European integration?

There is no ready answer to this question, as the internal situation in NATO is changing significantly (due to the peculiarities of US President D. Trump's foreign policy), and internal problems in the EU are growing (especially in the process of making joint decisions). The state of affairs with our integration into the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union is also noticeably different now.

The most controversial and even paradoxical is our current situation in relations with NATO.

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