You're reading: Yatsenyuk says Ukraine’s goal is NATO membership

ODESA – Ukraine's goal is membership of NATO as this will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to join a powerful system of collective security, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said.

“Our goal is to obtain membership in the North Atlantic Alliance [NATO] so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine become part of one of the most powerful systems of collective security. Let me remind you that according to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, an attack on a NATO member country is an attack on the Alliance as a whole,” Yatseniuk said during the celebrations to mark the beginning of the new academic year at Odesa Military Academy on Sept. 1.

Yatseniuk said that he believes that the Ukrainian parliament made a geostrategic mistake when it voted to adopt “the non-aligned status” of Ukraine five years ago.

“The adoption of a decision by parliament in 2010 on the introduction of so-called non-aligned status of Ukraine was a geostrategic mistake, I would even call it a crime,” he said.

This decision resulted in the absence of a clear system of defense of Ukraine, allowing Russia to violate all international treaties and the UN Charter and intervene militarily in Ukraine, Yatseniuk said.

“That’s why last year the Ukrainian parliament abolished the non-aligned status of Ukraine,” he added.