Sweden backs Ukraine's NATO membership path, minister says

PRAGUE — Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said Saturday that Ukraine should have a path to join NATO, arguing that Kyiv’s battle-tested armed forces and fast-growing defense industry would strengthen the alliance despite opposition from some member countries.

Speaking at the POLITICO Speakeasy at the GLOBSEC Forum in Prague, Jonson said Sweden supported Ukraine eventually becoming a member of both NATO and the European Union, adding that Kyiv should be given a long-term Euro-Atlantic perspective.

“All European countries should have the right to join NATO as such when they live up to the requirement,” Jonson said, citing NATO’s open-door policy. “There shouldn’t be anyone who has a veto against this. That’s our position.”

The question of Ukraine’s NATO future remains one of the most sensitive issues inside the alliance. Several allies support keeping the door open to Kyiv, while others fear that moving too quickly could escalate tensions with Russia or import an active war into NATO.

Jonson acknowledged that there was no consensus among allies. “I recognize that there are allies that are against it,” he said. “But if you ask me for our position, that is our position.”

The Swedish minister sees Ukraine as a future security asset for Europe. He pointed to the scale of Ukraine’s armed forces, its wartime innovation and its defense industrial capacity as reasons to bring the country closer to NATO.

“Where else in Europe can we find 110 brigades?” Jonson said. “Where else in Europe can we find the innovation system that Ukraine has provided? Where else can we find the industrial capacity as well?”

Jonson also argued that Ukraine’s defense market had become one of Europe’s most efficient, saying Kyiv had deregulated, privatized and opened up competition after Russia’s full-scale invasion — allowing it to scale weapons production at remarkable speed.