Ukrainian MP defies Zelensky on NATO

A proposed constitutional amendment would drop Kiev’s bid to join the US-led military bloc and restore neutrality A Ukrainian lawmaker has proposed amending the constitution to remove the country’s NATO membership goal and restore its neutral status.

One of Russia’s goals in ongoing hostilities with Ukraine is to ensure its return to neutrality.

The proposal submitted on Tuesday by MP Anna Skorokhod is largely symbolic, since the Verkhovna Rada cannot amend the constitution while martial law remains in force.

Vladimir Zelensky ordered the emergency after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict and has since used it to retain presidential powers after his mandate expired in 2024.

Russian officials have described NATO’s growing involvement in Ukraine as one of the principal causes of the conflict.

Skorokhod’s proposal follows a political scandal involving fellow lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko, who was expelled this week from the opposition European Solidarity faction after calling for peace talks with Russia.

Skorokhod herself was expelled from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party just months after being elected in 2019.

Read more State of Corruption: Zelensky crosses tipping point in new poll When Ukraine became independent in 1991, it declared an intention to remain outside military blocs.

Kiev changed course following the Western-backed armed coup in 2014.

In 2018, then-President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed enshrining Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the EU in the constitution.

Poroshenko was defeated the following year by political outsider Zelensky.

While the incumbent campaigned on Western integration and Ukrainian nationalism, Zelensky presented himself as a candidate who would reconcile Ukrainians of different ethnic backgrounds and improve relations with Moscow.

Goncharenko was a member of Poroshenko’s party before publicly arguing that Kiev needed to make policy concessions to avert what he described as an impending national disaster.

European Solidarity subsequently disowned him, and he was added to the Mirotvorets database, a controversial list of people deemed enemies of Ukraine.