Opinion

Ukrainians hoped for a positive sign from NATO. They were disappointed.

Ukrainian social media users were quick to register their disappointment:

To audiences in Europe and the United States, such reactions might come across as overwrought, given all the military and financial support the West has provided for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion. But NATO’s decision has come at a moment when Ukrainian fighters are pressing ahead with strengthened efforts to retake land — and enduring heavy casualties in the process. Ukrainians had hoped their sacrifices would be recognized in a more tangible way.

“Ukraine earned NATO membership with their blood without any conditions, which are now unable to voice even those who block our only invitation to join,” noted pro-government journalist Serhiy Leshchenko in the post shown below. “Therefore, the declarations made in Vilnius are painful to hear after conversations with people for whom every day may be the last.”

“With NATO or without,” wrote soldier Oleksandr Yabchanka, “I’ll fight as long as I can hold a weapon in my hands. And I’m not the only one. Thanks and honor to everyone who will fight under any conditions.”

Journalist Iliia Ponomarenko suggested that Ukrainians’ battlefield experience belies claims that their country somehow isn’t qualified to join the transatlantic alliance.

Some were reminded of unhappy historical precedents. Twitter user Denys Sihay wrote that the language of the Vilnius declaration represented little progress from the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, when Western powers made an earlier promise of membership unanchored by specifics. “Three months later,” he noted, “Russia attacked Georgia."

Andrij Birko recalled the signing of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, when Russia, the United States and other great powers promised Ukraine security guarantees in return for giving up the nuclear weapons it had inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union:

Some even broached the idea of restoring that deterrent:

Bruised feelings will not lead Ukrainians to reject external help. But for them, Western policy statements are more than bureaucratic declarations of intent. They are also crucial assurances of political, moral and psychological support at a moment of existential threat.