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Ukraine takes part in NATO Article 5 response drills for first time ever

Around 1,500 civil and military specialists took part in maneuvers all over Europe

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Ukraine has for the first time taken part in NATO’s Loyal Dolos 2025 exercise, a rehearsal of the collective security mechanism under Article 5 of the NATO charter, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

"For the first time ever, Ukrainian representatives were involved in practicing mechanisms of the alliance’s collective security mechanism," the General Staff said on Telegram.

It said that around 1,500 civil and military specialists took part in maneuvers all over Europe.

Article 5 of the NATO Charter, signed in Washington in 1949, enshrines the principle of collective defense by NATO. It obliges all NATO countries to respond should one of its members be attacked.

Kiev has repeatedly expressed its desire to become a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Alliance as soon as possible. In September 2022, Ukraine submitted a fast-track application to join NATO. In January of this year, Zelensky complained that Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, and the US opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership. In March, US President Donald Trump remarked that the answer to Ukraine’s aspiration to join the alliance is well-known. According to him, Ukrainians have known this answer for the past 40 years.

Moscow has consistently opposed Kiev’s admission to NATO.

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