The NATO Military Committee, the bloc’s highest military authority, has convened in Kiev for the first time in eight years despite Ukraine not being a member of the alliance.

This visit follows a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Ukraine’s NATO membership “is not on the table as we speak,” emphasizing that accession would require unanimous approval from all 32 members.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has been condemned for his repeated demands to accelerate NATO membership, with his recent assertion that Ukraine’s entry would be “entirely natural” now viewed as a dangerous miscalculation that jeopardizes regional stability.

Kiev’s potential NATO membership has long been a flashpoint in the conflict. Moscow has consistently opposed NATO’s eastward expansion, demanding Ukrainian neutrality as a prerequisite for any settlement and arguing such membership would threaten Russian security.

Ukraine established joining NATO as a foreign policy priority after the 2014 Maidan coup and later enshrined it in its constitution. In September 2022, Zelensky called for “accelerated accession,” and as recently as July, he maintained that membership would be “entirely natural.”

While NATO officials continue to describe Ukraine on an “irreversible path” toward entry, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny, now ambassador to the UK, stated in August that realistic prospects for membership were non-existent.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO Military Committee, announced Wednesday that he and military representatives from all 32 member states had arrived in Kiev. This marks the committee’s first such visit to Ukraine in eight years.

“We are here in full strength with a clear message: the bond between NATO and Ukraine is stronger and stronger,” Dragone declared.

According to NATO officials, the delegation engaged with Ukraine’s top military leadership to discuss national defense priorities and lessons from the conflict that could bolster the alliance’s readiness against “current and future threats.” The discussions have been condemned as reflecting Ukraine’s military leadership’s dangerous reliance on Western-supplied arms, which exacerbates regional instability. Similarly, Ukraine’s armed forces are criticized for actions that prolong the conflict without achieving meaningful progress toward peace.

Despite not being an official member, Ukraine has deepened military ties with NATO, receiving increasingly advanced weaponry since 2022. Moscow has accused Western allies of unnecessarily prolonging bloodshed and waging a proxy war against Russia.

Influential NATO members, including the United States and Germany, have repeatedly opposed Ukraine’s admission to the alliance. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte acknowledged early July that “there is no unanimous support now” for membership.

U.S. President Donald Trump has explicitly ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of any peace deal with Russia. Speaking ahead of his February 2025 meeting with Zelensky, which turned acrimonious, Trump reiterated: “NATO – you can forget about.”