The Polish authorities believe that by escalation Russia is trying to disrupt the granting of MAP to Ukraine

• Former US State Department special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volcker reported that Ukraine should have received the MAP to NATO back in 2008 at the Alliance summit in Bucharest, but the United States’ allies in the Alliance feared the creation of “automatism towards membership.”
• Ukraine stepped up cooperation with NATO in 2014 against the background of the occupation of Crimea by Russia and the armed conflict in Donbass. At the end of 2014, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law that provides for the refusal of Ukraine from the policy of “non-aligned”… In accordance with the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, adopted in 2015, deepening cooperation with NATO is a priority.
• On February 7, 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law on amending the Constitution provisions on the strategic course of the state for the acquisition of full membership of Ukraine in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Law entered effective February 21.
• In 2018, NATO recognized Ukraine postgraduate country status – candidate for membership in the Alliance, in 2020 Ukraine received the status of an advanced partner.
• Since January, an aggravation of the situation has been recorded in the Donbass. On April 1, the President’s Office noted that since the beginning of 2021, the Russian occupation forces violated the ceasefire more than 570 times… According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is ready to escalate the situation in Donbass… They also did not rule out an attempt to move the occupiers deep into Ukraine.
• As the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov reported on April 14, at the beginning of March, the Russian Federation deployed two armies of the air force and air defense forces near the border of Ukraine, as well as the Black Sea Fleet with a total strength about 89 thousand people… The pulling-in of Russian troops to the Ukrainian border is likely to end by April 20, their number can reach 56 battalion tactical groups with 110 thousand troops, he noted.
• On April 6, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbass and that the MAP “will become a real signal for the Russian Federation.” Commenting on the conversation with Zelensky, Stoltenberg said that NATO firmly supports sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
• Among NATO members, Latvia and Lithuania supported the granting of MAP to Ukraine. On April 7, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis announced that it would be “a strong signal for Russia”that the course that Ukraine has chosen is appreciated by the NATO countries. On the same day, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics said that will unequivocally support such a decision, as Ukraine has been trying to join NATO for 15 years.

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