July 27th, 2024

_{Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Keir Starmer, Joe Biden and the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, attend a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine council during Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC, 11 July 2024. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters}

Refer to the complete, original letter as written in The Guardian here.

Prof. Popova helped draft an open letter, co-signed by over one hundred academics, researchers, former diplomats, and other professionals who specialize on the Russo-Ukrainian war and European security. The open letter published in The Guardian advocates for Ukraine’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The experts specifically call on Western powers to garner the political will to accept Ukraine into NATO to ensure the safety and security of the Ukrainian state and its people going forward, to bolster European security, and to defend the international order.

“Inviting Ukraine to join Nato would mark a definitive step away from the politics of appeasement and back to the rule of international law and protection of human rights. A decision to extend security guarantees to Ukraine would not only safeguard the Ukrainian state, via the only means yet shown to be successful, but would also reassert Nato and the western democracies as effective political agents on the world stage.”

The letter remains open for academics and those in related fields to sign. If you are interested in doing so in your professional capacity, please fill out this form.