Zelenskyy urges Ukraine diplomats to fight hard for Nato membership

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told his country's diplomats that Ukraine will have to fight to persuade allies to allow it to take up Nato membership, but has described the goal as "achievable" as Kyiv searches for security guarantees to protect it from Russia.

- Jon Henley

The comments came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, vowed to bring more "destruction" to Ukraine after a drone attack on the central Russian city of Kazan. He also met the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit by an EU and Nato leader to Moscow.

Kyiv says membership of the transatlantic military alliance, or an equivalent form of security guarantee, would be crucial to any peace plan to ensure that Russia does not attack again. Nato has said Ukraine will join it one day, but it has not suggested when or issued an invitation.

"We all understand that Ukraine's invitation to Nato and membership in the alliance can only be a political decision," Zelenskyy told diplomats in Kyiv yesterday, adding that the goal was "achievable only if we fight for this decision at all necessary levels".

Zelenskyy has previously suggested that Nato membership could be offered to unoccupied parts of Ukraine in order to end the "hot phase" of the war. Last week, after 24 hours of meetings with Nato and EU leaders in Brussels, he said that European pledges to defend Ukraine would "not be sufficient" without US involvement.