Ukraine will not agree to any alternatives other than NATO membership, although it will not receive an invitation soon.

Ukraine will not agree to any other options, such as surrogates or substitutes for full NATO membership, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed on the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum. The ministry recognized that it has failed to prevent Russia’s aggression as a nuclear power against Ukraine, a state without a nuclear arsenal. Failure to implement security guarantees through the Budapest Memorandum has caused a catastrophic increase in security threats for other countries and regions, including Europe.

“The only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression, is only Ukraine’s full membership in NATO. An invitation to NATO now will become an effective countermeasure to Russian blackmail and will deprive the Kremlin of illusions about the possibility of hindering Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration,” the statement said.

For now, however, the Alliance’s member states will likely refrain from formally inviting Ukraine to join when NATO foreign ministers meet on December 3-4.