Ukraine’s former top commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi says he supports NATO, but Russia has found a counter to nearly all its weapons

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said he considers himself a supporter of NATO but believes the alliance needs to change. He made the remarks to journalists in Kyiv who had asked him to explain his earlier statement that Ukraine would be unable to join NATO.

On August 3, Zaluzhnyi said he believes Ukraine “will never join” NATO, arguing that the alliance’s standards no longer meet today’s needs. “It’s impossible to join, with the level of development the Ukrainian Armed Forces have, an organization that operates according to World War II doctrines,” he said. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry soon stated that Zaluzhnyi’s words had been taken out of context, adding that Ukraine’s course toward joining the North Atlantic alliance remains unchanged.

Zaluzhnyi has now offered an explanation for his remarks. He said that as early as 2019, he was the leading advocate for shifting the Ukrainian Armed Forces to NATO standards, a push that drew significant criticism and “made enemies.”

Zaluzhnyi stressed that “from a political standpoint, a lot of questions arise about NATO, as a bloc that guarded the old world.”

“Scientific and technological progress is happening. In 2026, Ukraine has used all types of weapons, well, except perhaps for Tomahawks, nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, F-35s, which are in NATO’s arsenal […]. The resource has been exhausted. Russia has found a countermeasure to all of this,” Zaluzhnyi said.

He added that the war has brought the Ukrainian Armed Forces “to an entirely different level,” meaning NATO “has no choice but to move to completely different standards.” “That’s when NATO will be ready for Ukraine’s accession. I’ve already said that we need an absolutely new security bloc, most likely with a territorial anchor in Europe. Absolutely new,” Zaluzhnyi said.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi served as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 2021 to 2024, and media outlets have repeatedly reported that he intends to run for president of Ukraine. Ukrainska Pravda reported that Volodymyr Zelensky met with Zaluzhnyi in the summer of 2026 and asked whether he would run for president if the election were held that fall. Zaluzhnyi said he would.