President Volodymyr Zelensky, through his social networks, has just announced the signing of the formal application for accelerated NATO membership.
The Ukrainian request can be understood as a reaction to the announcement made today by Russian President Vladimir Putin to annex the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporiyia, some of which he still does not fully control and are strongly contested by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Zelensky published a video in which he points out that Ukraine is already de facto within the NATO structure, compatible with the standards of the alliance, which is demonstrated on a daily basis on the battlefield.
That is why Ukraine is asking for de jure recognition of its formal entry into the alliance structure, in an accelerated manner.
The issue of Western fighters
Certainly, several efforts were made by NATO to make the Ukrainian Air Force more effective, such as improving and standardizing its navigation and communications equipment with those used by Western aviation, helping with the logistic and maintenance tasks of its fleet, and even integrating AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles in the MiG-29s, to suppress Russian air defenses.
See also: Ukrainian MiG-29 firing AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles
All this allowed the depleted fleet of Ukrainian helicopters and fighter planes to continue to maintain combat operations to this day with relative success.
However, what the Ukrainian Air Force has been asking for a long time is to be supplied with Western fighters, in order to be able to challenge the airspace to the Russian aviation.
Ukraine needs to rebuild its air force from the ground up, and intends to do so based on NATO structure, means and doctrine.
See also: F-22, F-35, Gripen and Eurofighter: Ukraine Air Force openly requests for western fighters
No one can foresee what will become of the membership application signed by Zelensky. As was seen with the accession of Sweden and Finland, all NATO member countries must approve the inclusion of a new partner. And that takes time and a lot of negotiations.
And if it turns out that Ukraine is accepted as a member and the war in the east of the country continues, it would mean that Western combat aircraft would be launched, as a spearhead, against Russian armed forces throughout the occupied zone, and perhaps even beyond, attacking targets inside Russia itself. But this could lead to a very dangerous military escalation with Putin, whose only card left to play is the nuclear one.
Another option is to wait for a while for Ukraine to join NATO, after the situation in the east has stabilized, and the maps of Russia and Ukraine have been redrawn.
