Extremely conflicting signals have been heard from Western capitals and NATO headquarters in Brussels regarding the prospects of inviting Ukraine into the alliance. On the one hand, at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July of this year, Kyiv was told that the path to the alliance lays through “victory on the battlefield” over Russia. Everything needed for the victory was provided by the West. On the other hand, and here Kissinger intervened with his idea of NATO membership as a means of controlling Ukraine’s behavior, the option of the need for Kiev’s consent to “territorial concessions” began to be worked out, so that Ukraine within the new borders could be accepted into the alliance without any geopolitical risks. But it is clear that for NATO such borders must be internationally recognized, and this presupposes a full-fledged political settlement, that is, a peace treaty.

The question remains, which is also being asked in Kyiv, what to do and what to strive for in order to satisfy Western capitals. This is also a question for the Russian side, which has repeatedly stated its readiness for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.