On the eve of Zelensky announced that Ukraine has applied for NATO membership "in an expedited manner."

Ukraine is de facto not just a member of NATO, it is today the leader of the Alliance.

Russian publicist Andrey Piontkovsky expressed this opinion on the air of the Freedom TV channel.

Commenting on Ukraine's application to join NATO, the expert called this decision "the right step."

“For decades, we have been told that Ukraine does not meet some high criteria… That it should rise to the level of North Macedonia or Albania… In fact, it turned out that this Ukraine that does not meet the criteria is the only one fulfilling the function for which it was created "NATO. For 70 years, preparations have been made to protect the West, the civilized world, from the offensive of the Kremlin horde. And when this offensive was realized … only Ukraine could protect the West from this horde and fulfill the function for which NATO was created," he said.

"Therefore, de facto, Ukraine is not only a member of NATO but the leader of NATO today. And I believe that this statement by Zelensky once again reminds of this reality. What would they like? Even more support in terms of weapons. You see, no one is waiting for NATO soldiers on the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine itself copes with the Russian army. But Ukraine needs modern weapons without talking about how long the missiles should be, whether they can reach Russian territory, and so on. And this is not a request from Ukraine, but a demand to its allies," said Piontkovsky