Ukraine joining NATO a “threat” to Russia: Ex-Russian President

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MOSCOW

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has claimed that the country faces a “threat” from Ukraine, which could potentially join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, CNN reported on Monday.

Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote, “We (Russia) have always asked for only one thing – to take into account our concerns and not invite the former parts of our country to NATO.” The official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper on Sundays.

“Especially those with whom we have territorial disputes. Therefore, our goal is simple – to eliminate the threat of Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” he added.

According to CNN, the vice president of the Security Council further stated that one of the reasons Russia attacked Ukraine was to prevent NATO from expanding too close to its borders.

And Medvedev said Moscow deliberately set out to make the current conflict permanent, because “it’s a matter of Russia’s survival.”

Ukraine’s membership in NATO is one of several issues the leaders will tackle when they meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11 and 12.

The issue would prove to be one of the biggest flashpoints for the group, which has managed to remain remarkably united amid Russia’s unprovoked aggression.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Russia carried out an overnight drone strike on Kyiv after a gap of 12 days, a senior Ukrainian military official said, Al Jazeera reported.

“Another enemy attack on Kiev,” Al Jazeera quoted Colonel General Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, as saying in a post on the Telegram channel on Sunday morning.

“At the moment, there is no information about possible casualties or damage,” he added.

The attack came a day after Ukrainian officials reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the east and south of the country.

At least three civilians were killed and 17 wounded in the eastern front-line Donetsk region on Friday and overnight, according to Governor Pavlo Kirilenko.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that fierce fighting continued in three areas in Donetsk, where it said Russia had deployed large numbers of troops and attempted to advance. It has designated the outskirts of three cities – Bakhmut, Laiman and Marinka – as front-line hot spots, reports AL Jazeera.

In addition, five people, including a child, were wounded in attacks on Friday and overnight in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, according to governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

He said the Russian army carried out 82 artillery, drone, mortar shell and rocket attacks on the province, which has been cut in two by a 1,500 km (930 mi) stretch of the front line and is still reeling from floods earlier this month. battling. One of the major Dnipro river dams.