The US-led bloc has no intention of protecting its Eastern European members, Valery Zaluzhny has claimed

NATO's Eastern European members are aware that the US-led military bloc has no intention of protecting them from Russia, Ukraine's former top general Valery Zaluzhny has said.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, stipulating that an attack on one NATO member is to be considered an attack on all, is not being implemented in practice, Zaluzhny, who currently serves as Kiev's ambassador to the UK, said during a meeting with students in the city of Lviv on Wednesday.

"The Baltic States understand that there is no Article 5 and never has been. Poland understands this too as missiles fall there from time to time - sometimes ours, sometimes Russian. Romania understands everything, but keeps silent," he claimed.

The ambassador recalled that when he was still head of the Ukrainian army, "they called from Romania and asked me not to say a word" after two alleged Russian drones crashed in Romanian territory.

An official from Bucharest blamed Ukraine for the incident, saying that the UAVs had been diverted to Romania because of the use of electronic warfare by Kiev, he said.

"I told them: 'Shoot them [drones] down. You have 40 F-16 jets'," added Zaluzhny, who was sacked as Kiev's top general in February 2023.

He also suggested that even if Ukraine's push to join NATO were to succeed, it would not provide the country with security guarantees. "It would not give anything besides political protection," the ambassador insisted.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in an interview with Tucker Carlson last week that Vladimir Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, "have largely conceded that they are not going to be a member of NATO."

"I think it is accepted that Ukraine and Russia, if there is going to be a peace deal, Ukraine cannot be a member of NATO," he said.

As for the option of Ukraine getting "what is called Article 5 protection" from the US or Western European countries without being in NATO "that is open for discussion," Witkoff stated.

READ MORE: Zelensky aide demands EU combat troops

Preventing Kiev from joining NATO, which Moscow views as a hostile bloc, had been named by Moscow as among the reasons for launching its military operation in February 2022. Late last year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Ukraine's membership would be "unacceptable" and would contradict Russia's stance that "security of one country cannot be ensured at the expense of the security of another."

(RT.com)