The strongest, most progressive army is the Ukrainian army when comparing to NATO allies. And when Ukraine joins the Alliance in the future, it will do so not from the position of a petitioner, but as a full-fledged partner that has the full right to teach others.
Michel Yakovleff, a retired general and former deputy chief of staff of the NATO Rapid Reaction Forces, stated this in an interview with an Ukrinform correspondent.
“NATO standard today is inferior to Ukraine’s standard. What NATO really does better than Ukraine today is maneuvers. Just because you can no longer maneuver, you are stuck on the front line, and that is normal. But high-intensity, massive war, drones, target identification and so on – here Ukraine is a school,” Yakovleff emphasized.
According to the former general, the path to NATO is not just a one-way road on the part of Ukraine, it is the desire and need of Europeans to have the same strong armed forces and to learn from Ukrainians.
“If you want to quickly create an army that is worthy of trust, then go to school in Ukraine. Because today the strongest army among NATO countries is not from NATO, the strongest army is the Ukrainian army. The most progressive, the only one that knows what war is,” he added.
Yakovleff believes that in the future Ukraine will come to NATO in a completely different role – not as a humble applicant, but as a full-fledged partner.
“Half of today’s NATO consists of countries that started their journey through the Partnership for Peace. And all these countries, including Poland, came to NATO with both hands raised to the sky and begging: ‘Please take me, I want to learn!’ And on the day Ukraine joins NATO, it will say: ‘Hold on, guys. I fought for you, okay? That’s why we don’t say that. Besides, my army is the biggest, the strongest, and the most competent. The war of the 21st century. I know what it is, and you don’t.” So the new member of the club will not have that modesty, because it knows for sure that NATO owes one to it, and not the other way around,” he explained.
As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO remains on the table, despite the disagreement coming from some countries. He emphasized that while Ukraine is not a member of the Alliance, it must have solid security guarantees.
Source: NATO standard today inferior to Ukraine’s – French general
