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President Zelensky’s response to Russia’s annexation of four regions of eastern Ukraine is to apply for a fast-track to NATO membership. Zelensky announced the decision in a video.

“We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” Zelenskiy said in the video on the Telegram app.

The video showed Zelenskiy in combat fatigues announcing the membership bid and signing a document flanked by his prime minister and the speaker of parliament.

The announcement was likely to touch a nerve in Moscow which casts the NATO bloc at home as a hostile military alliance bent on encroaching on Moscow’s sphere of influence.

If you’ve watched some of those Russian TV clips I’ve been posting then you’re probably already aware that NATO is currently the equivalent of the bogeyman on Putin-friendly media. Why can’t Russia’s army advance? Because they’re not fighting Ukraine, they’re fighting NATO. Others have claimed that front line Ukrainian troops now carry out operations in English because there are so many embedded NATO soldiers among them. So, this request to join NATO is definitely going to play into Russian propaganda in a big way.

Here’s a bit more of what Zelensky said:

“De facto, we have already become a NATO ally. We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the Alliance,” Zelensky said. “Today Ukraine submits an application to make this de jure. (Our accession) would be a formal solidifying of the real state of things we’ve already achieved.”

In his speech, Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready for peace talks with Russia but only with a different Russian president.

“It was our state that repeatedly offered Russia to agree on coexistence on equal, honest, dignified, and fair terms. It is obvious that this is impossible with this Russian president. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia,” Zelensky added.

So what does NATO think of this? For the moment, they are emphasizing that NATO is not part of the current conflict.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the Alliance would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. He added NATO would never recognize the Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory. “Annexation will not change the position of NATO countries regarding support for Ukraine,” he said.

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“If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting – Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent state,” Stoltenberg said.

However, Stoltenberg emphasized that “NATO is not part of the conflict.” He didn’t address President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement several hours prior in which the president said Ukraine has applied for NATO membership. Zelensky said Ukraine should count on the NATO fast-track accession…

Stoltenberg said that “countries can apply to join the alliance.”

My take is that we’re not going to see Ukraine joining NATO at a moment when they are already at war with Russia. That could change at some point down the line once hostilities have ended.

Here’s the full Zelensky video. Unfortunately, I don’t see a version with subtitles yet. I’ll replace this once I find a better version. For now you can at least get the staging and the body language.

Update: This is pretty funny.

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