Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Ukraine should join NATO after the end of the war with Russia.
Kissinger, who has long maintained that Ukraine should remain neutral and autonomous, conceded that given the recent conflict, the nation’s NATO accession would be a “reasonable outcome”.
The 99-year-old spoke at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.
His comments come a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to make an “important statement” on the war in Ukraine on Wednesday.
Former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger speaks Tuesday at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
A Ukrainian apartment complex destroyed by a Russian airstrike on January 18
Earlier, Kissinger reiterated his belief that the key to Ukraine’s success is not to ally with the East or the West, but to maintain its own identity and governance.
“If Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be the outpost of one side against the other — it should act as a bridge between them,” he wrote in the Washington Post in 2014.
But in Switzerland on Tuesday, he had a very different tune when he argued that Ukraine’s NATO entry and unification with Europe might be the only way forward.
“The idea of a neutral Ukraine no longer makes sense under these conditions,” he said.
Kissinger, 99, attends a luncheon at the US Department of State in December 2022
Onlookers watch as Henry Kissinger addresses the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday
Kissinger said dialogue between Russia and other nations should be kept open even as fighting continues in Ukraine.
He said Ukraine should keep trying to retake its territory and this should be done in conjunction with peace negotiations.
Kissinger added that the West should not be drawn into a direct conflict with Russia and that it is vital that the country can rejoin international networks once the conflict is resolved.
He also warned that the US and superpowers like China would allow hostilities to escalate, saying conflicts between nuclear-armed nations with increasingly adept artificial intelligence capabilities could be devastating.
“Each side must consider for itself how to deal with the threat to human survival posed by the destructive power of weapons combined with almost conscious use,” he said.
Ukrainian soldiers drive a tank in eastern Ukraine on November 22, 2022
Footage shows a member of Ukraine’s military looking away as a 122mm BM-21 ‘Grad’ MLRS rocket launcher fires January 11, 2023 on the outskirts of Soledar, where some of the Ukraine war’s bloodiest fighting has been raging in recent weeks took place
Ukrainian soldiers equip trenches in a field near Soledar, January 14, 2023
Kissinger’s insights and warnings come as Vladimir Rogov, a member of the governing board of the Zaporizhia region, announced that the Russian president would deliver a key-announcement speech on Wednesday.
The speech will be part of events marking the 80th anniversary of the breach of the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany’s troops, when Soviet troops managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on January 18, 1943.
As chairman of We Are Together with Russia, Rogov advocates for the occupied territories of Ukraine to be fully incorporated into the Russian Federation.
He made the announcement on his Telegram channel and it was later reported by Russian media. However, the Kremlin has not yet issued an official statement.
Public appearances by Putin have often been teased by Russian officials before being canceled at the last minute. The practice makes it difficult to track Putin’s movements and could be a tactic for just that purpose.
It remains unclear what the announcement could be.