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Ukraine Isn’t Asking to Join NATO—It’s Teaching It. A Former NATO General Explains Why
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![Photo of Liubava Petriv]( "Photo of Liubava Petriv")
Ukraine’s military is now one of the most capable and forward-looking in the world, and its future NATO membership should be seen not as an act of seeking entry, but as a partnership based on real battlefield leadership, according to retired General Michel Yakovleff, former Deputy Chief of Staff of NATO’s Rapid Reaction Corps.
Speaking to Ukrinform on June 25, Yakovleff stated that Ukraine’s experience and innovation on the battlefield are now setting new standards—often surpassing traditional NATO approaches.
“The NATO standard today falls short of the Ukrainian standard,” he said. “What NATO still does better than Ukraine is maneuvering—simply because you can no longer maneuver, you’re stuck on the front line, and that’s understandable. But in high-intensity, large-scale warfare—drones, target detection, and so on—it is Ukraine that is the real school.”
According to Yakovleff, European countries have just as much to gain from Ukraine’s battlefield knowledge as Ukraine does from NATO membership. He emphasized that Ukraine is no longer simply catching up—it is leading in modern warfare.
“If you want to quickly build a credible army, go to school in Ukraine,” he said. “Because today, the strongest army among NATO countries is not in NATO. The strongest army is Ukraine’s. The most advanced, the only one that knows what war really is.”
Looking ahead, Yakovleff said Ukraine’s eventual path to NATO will be fundamentally different from that of earlier applicants.
“Half of NATO today is made up of countries that started through the Partnership for Peace,” he noted. “And all of them—including Poland—came into NATO with both hands raised to the sky, pleading: ‘Please take me, I want to learn! ’”
“But the day Ukraine joins NATO,” he continued, “it will say: ‘Hold on, guys. I fought for you, alright? So that’s not how we’re going to talk. Also, my army is the biggest, strongest, and most competent. This is 21st-century war—I know what that means, and you don’t.’”
Yakovleff concluded that Ukraine’s contribution to NATO would be not only in terms of manpower, but in reshaping the Alliance’s understanding of modern warfare.
“The new member of the club won’t have that modesty,” he said, “because it will know for certain that NATO owes something to Ukraine—not the other way around.”
On June 24, UK Defence Secretary John Healey spoke at a NATO public forum titled “A Strong Ukraine for a Just and Lasting Peace,” saying that Putin wants our focus to sleep—but NATO’s strong message is that we will not let that happen.
