During his speech at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session in Canada, Petro Poroshenko called on the Alliance members to extend an invitation to Ukraine. He stressed that this would be the right answer to Putin’s escalation.
“When we now see the message that Putin sent to the world, attacking us with an intercontinental ballistic missile, sending 12-15 ballistic missiles per night to Kyiv, to critically important energy infrastructure facilities – who is this message addressed to? Not to Ukraine. We are not afraid. This is a message to a “weak” Western nation,” Poroshenko stressed.
“Putin changed Russia’s nuclear doctrine to scare us. Putin himself is scared as hell. Putin used a medium-range ballistic missile against Ukraine to make us panic. But in fact, it is Putin who is panicking. Putin is trying to use his new missiles against Ukraine even more to make us feel weak. But it is Putin who is weak. And we must have an absolutely clear plan,” the fifth President believes.
“What is the main component of our victory? Membership in NATO. We can win this war without a single shot, with just one signature. And this is a signature on Ukraine’s invitation to NATO. This will change everything immediately. Demonstrate that Putin cannot blackmail not only Ukraine but also the free democratic world. We need this signature now,” Poroshenko stressed.
“No one in the world understands why we should not get permission to sign an invitation for Ukraine. Why tie Ukraine’s hands if, over the past two weeks, we have been demonstrating the unique effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine? With not only Russian but also North Korean positions destroyed,” Poroshenko stated.
He also called for allocating at least 0.25% of Western GDP to support Ukraine. “I want to draw your attention to the figures published by Ukrainian intelligence. North Korea and Iran supply Russia with more artillery shells than all NATO countries. More missiles than all NATO countries. This means that they are putting their economy on military rails, and we are lagging,” Poroshenko noted.
“So, now signing the invitation to NATO is the right answer to Putin. And I want to remind you that this is the cheapest option. This is an option to avoid a nuclear catastrophe,” Poroshenko noted.
He also recalled the “red lines” regarding Ukraine:First,t: there can be no compromise on Ukrainian sovereignty and independence. We will never be a colony of Russia. Secondly, no compromise on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and no compromise on the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the future, we must be able to protect ourselves.”