Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders need to regroup and plan their future strategy.

Yulia Tymoshenko and Parliamentary Chair Arseniy Yatsenyuk signed the now-famous January letter requesting Ukraine's acceptance into the North American Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Membership Access Plan (MAP), it's unclear whether they truly believed the attempt would work.

Instead the letter, clandestinely prepared and sent, served as the perfect pretext for the parliamentary opposition to launch protests and rally their electorate. Seemingly, the "Letter of Three" did more to hurt Ukraine's NATO integration efforts than help them.

Now that MAP membership is unlikely at the Bucharest summit, not because of Ukraine’s domestic opposition but because of the Russian Federation’s power and influence, Ukraine's pro-Western leaders need to regroup and plan their future strategy.

For starters, Ukraine must continue engaging in as many joint exercises as possible with NATO and keep reforming its military to conform with NATO standards, with or without the MAP.

Should enough integration occur that close relations emerge regardless, MAP membership could become a moot point, perhaps the best solution amidst an aggressive Russian neighbor.

The most important agent for Ukraine's NATO integration remains information. The more Ukrainians are exposed to NATO and what it offers — unparalleled security and modernization — the more Ukrainians will support it.

The problem remains of who will finance an information campaign. The US government isn't financing a NATO information campaign, US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, Jr. has said.

Potential candidates are NATO itself, as well as pro-NATO Ukrainian political parties which stand to gain from wider NATO approval.

But the best information campaign is conducted by Ukrainians themselves, who live and work in NATO countries, and by Ukrainian soldiers who serve in international missions with NATO. The West must keep opening its doors further to Ukrainians to spread the word.

Then there's France and Germany. Ukraine's diplomats should be more active in convincing their French and German counterparts that the benefits of Ukraine's NATO integration outweigh any threat posed by Russia.

French newspapers have reported a possible compromise has been floated between NATO and Russia to create a neutral zone consisting of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Ukraine should reject any such proposal. Falling into a neutral zone is the equivalent of a black hole, in which Ukraine would not make any progress in improving its security or modernizing its military and economy.

Such a status could allow the West and Russia to exploit the situation, rather than give Ukraine the chance to grow and prosper in a secure alliance.