ROME, August 16. /TASS/. The recent statement by Stian Jenssen, a senior NATO official, who said that Ukraine could become a NATO member in exchange for abandoning claims for the territories that it refuses to recognize as Russian, suggests there are doubts among Ukraine’s allies that its ongoing offensive will succeed, journalist Gianni Rosini wrote in the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Contradictory statements from Kiev’s allies about the Ukrainian counteroffensive have been made for weeks, but the remarks by Jenssen, the chief of staff for NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, were "testimony that doubts about the Ukrainian offensive have now crept even into the top leadership of NATO."

"The words of Jenssen, which the alliance rushed to downplay after a diplomatic uproar from the Ukrainian government, only confirm a doubt that has been circulating for some time among observers: Do the allies really believe in Kiev’s ultimate victory?" the journalist said.

The lack of progress at the battlefield, which has been witnessed for months, points to "the reality of a counteroffensive that is struggling to accelerate," Rosini said. He suggested "this is perhaps also the reason for the intensification of the Ukrainian attacks across the Russian border."

The Norwegian newspaper VG earlier cited Jenssen as saying Ukraine could join NATO in exchange for ceding the territories that it refuses to recognize as Russian. The NATO official reiterated NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s previous statements that Ukraine should decide for itself when and under what conditions it wants to negotiate. When asked if NATO believes Ukraine should give up territory for the sake of peace with Russia and future NATO membership, Jenssen responded that discussions about the post-war status were already underway and the issue of territorial concessions had been raised by others. Jenssen said he didn’t mean that was the way forward but that could potentially be a solution. However, he later stated that his words were part of a broader discussion on possible scenarios for the future of Ukraine and that he should not have said what he said, as it wasn’t right.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS earlier that the settling of the conflict required a reaffirmation of the original foundation of Ukraine's sovereignty: its neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status. He said "new territorial realities should also be recognized, and efforts must be made to ensure Ukraine's demilitarization, de-Nazification and respect for the rights of its Russian-speaking people and ethnic minorities in accordance with the requirements of international law."