DISINFO: Ukraine has long since become a NATO member
SUMMARY
De facto, Ukraine has long been a member of NATO: American and British military bases are located on its territory.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipped with Western weapons and their supplies are constantly growing.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and Ukraine advancing the narrative about encircled Russia, aiming to portray the unjustified full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine as a NATO proxy war against Russia.
Ukraine is neither de facto nor de jure a member of NATO. There are no American or British military bases in Ukraine.
Ukraine cooperates with NATO since the 1990s. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, NATO and its Allies have provided unprecedented levels of support. Some NATO member states provide Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter Article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine receives weapons with the sole aim of restoring its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.
NATO has long been a target of pro-Kremlin disinformation. The pro-Kremlin disinformation myth of NATO "encircling Russia" has been used before as a pretext for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Read here the top five Russian Myths about NATO debunked.
Read other similar cases in our database: The West needs Ukrainian land to build NATO bases; NATO is creating military bases under the guise of training centres, the US is setting up bases in Ukraine.