NOURNEWS- On Tuesday, “Stian Jenssen”, Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, “Jens Stoltenberg”, said at a panel event in southern Norway: "I think the solution might be for Ukraine to give up territory and get NATO membership in return. At the same time, Ukraine must decide for itself when and under what conditions it wants to negotiate,"
In response to questions about the conditions for Ukraine to achieve peace and the possibility of handing over some of its territorial areas to Russia, he said: "Ukraine's post-war status is already undergoing negotiations, and at this moment, the matter of ceding territories to Russia has been broached.".
He further said: This proposal is one of the possible solutions to the current crisis, and the desire of the international community is to avoid the recurrence of war. Continuing his speech, The NATO chief of staff stressed that Russia was “struggling enormously militarily” and that it seemed “unrealistic that Russia can take new territories”. The challenge, he noted, was how much territory Ukraine “manages to take back”.
But Jensen's controversial words have made NATO the target of severe criticism of Ukrainian officials and the country's government.
In this regard, on Tuesday," Mykhailo Podolyak", the adviser to the President of Ukraine, in response to the words of the head of the NATO Secretary General's office, wrote on “X” formerly known as twitter: "Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous, Podolyak added that to do so would be “deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations.”.
He added: “unless Putin suffers a crushing defeat, the political regime in Russia will not change, war criminals will not be punished, and the war will return with even greater Russian appetites. Any Attempts to preserve the world order and establish a ‘bad peace’ through, let's be honest, Putin's triumph will not bring peace to the world, but will bring both dishonor and war,”
In the continuation of his critical text, Podolyak demanded the increase and speed up the sending of arms shipments from European countries and NATO member countries to Ukraine and asked: “Then why propose the scenario of a freeze, so desired by Russia, instead of speeding up the supply of weapons?”
On the other hand, however; Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, agreed with Jensen's proposal and hypothesis and said: "Why? The idea is curious. The only question is that all of allegedly ‘their’ territories are highly disputable. To enter the bloc [NATO], the Kyiv authorities would have to give up even Kyiv itself, the capital of Ancient Rus Well, they would have to move the capital to Lvov then. If, of course, the Poles agree,”.
So far, Ukraine has failed in its counteroffensive operation against Russian forces, and at the same time as Russian forces advanced in cities such as Kup'yans'k and Lyman, located in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have only succeeded in recapturing two square miles of the battered city of Bakhmut.
Ukraine's membership in NATO remains a sensitive issue for the country's western allies, and many NATO member countries, such as France, the US, and Germany, are worried about the consequences of Ukraine's membership in NATO and the further escalation of current tensions. And Jenssen’s latest remark has not helped Ukraine’s case, on the contrary, his statements have turned NATO a target for Ukraine’s officials’ criticisms and has forced Jenssen to apologize for its statement.
He said: “I shouldn’t have said it that way, and it was a mistake. It is completely Ukraine’s independent right to decide,” Jenssen said, adding: “I think the most important thing now is that we support the Ukrainians”
Still, several diplomats lamented that the 24-hour period had been damaging. Even if the idea of making land concessions has long lingered as a negotiating possibility, officials have been careful not to say that publicly.
“It is of course a major mistake, which is surprising for such an experienced professional,” said a senior Central European diplomat, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal dynamics. “He does not have a mandate for it, and voicing it certainly does not help Ukraine.”
BY: Homayoun Barkhor
NOURNEWS