Support for Ukraine's membership in NATO has grown from 17% to 80% over the past 18 years, as people have come to see that without the Alliance, Russia will simply take over Ukraine. This was stated by the Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-2016, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in the Off the Record podcast on Kyiv Post with Canadian Ambassador Natalka Cmoc.
‘I established the Kyiv Security Forum [a leading international discussion platform in Ukraine on issues of war and peace, ed.] in 2007. Do you know how many Ukrainians supported NATO membership at that time? 17%. Now the figure has risen to 80%,’ Yatsenyuk said.
In his words, these changes are fundamental – and they are based on a very painful realisation. "The price is too high, because people have realised that without NATO, without the European Union, the Russians will simply take over Ukraine. And that is not the world we want to live in. We have had enough of the Russians. We have suffered enough under Soviet rule. And we remember this very well,‘ the Chairman of the KSF emphasised.
Yatsenyuk explained why Euro-Atlantic integration has become not an abstraction for Ukrainians, but an existential choice. ’It is a huge drama and a very painful trauma for the Ukrainian people – to be under the Russian Empire or under the Soviet Union. People have realised that Ukraine's destiny lies in the European Union," the former prime minister noted.
At the same time, the KSF Chairman warned against illusions and stressed that real change requires political responsibility at all levels.
"Most people always believe that if we just sign an agreement with the EU, everything will change as if by magic. It doesn't work that way. Hard work is needed here. We need very strong political responsibility and conviction at all levels, from the government to local authorities, from Ukrainian journalists to Ukrainian experts. Therefore, we need to talk to people, explain, and ask them to support such radical changes," said the Chairman of the KSF.
Yatsenyuk stressed that Ukraine has no more time to waste. ‘We cannot waste another few decades, as we did in previous decades. We don't have those decades. We must hit the pedal to the max. We must do everything necessary to join the European Union and NATO,’ the former prime minister emphasised.