Should Ukraine join NATO without its occupied territories?
A proposal from a former NATO Secretary General and a renewed missile attack on Kyiv framed the debate over Ukraine's place in the alliance in mid-November 2023.
What would it mean for Ukraine to join NATO without the land Russia occupies? On 13 November 2023, that question was circulating in the days after former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen put forward just such a proposal. Reports dated 11 and 12 November described his idea as Ukraine entering the military alliance but without the territories occupied by Russia.
The proposal landed against a backdrop of continuing Russian strikes. On 11 November 2023, Russia launched its first missile attacks against Kyiv in 52 days. Most of the ballistic missiles were intercepted by Ukrainian air defences, and no casualties were reported.
Two signals in one weekend
The two developments pointed in different directions. One was a diplomatic idea about how Ukraine might be admitted to the alliance. The other was a military reminder that the capital remained a target after a pause of more than seven weeks in missile attacks on it.
The interception of most of the ballistic missiles showed the role of Ukrainian air defences in protecting Kyiv. Rasmussen's suggestion, by contrast, concerned the future of Ukraine's relationship with NATO and the status of the occupied territories within any membership arrangement.
As of 13 November 2023, the proposal remained an idea advanced by a former NATO Secretary General, rather than a position adopted by the alliance.
