Zelensky said the country’s NATO membership would avoid war with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Wednesday at the French University of Sciences Po that his country’s joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Western military alliance would avoid war provoked by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“If Ukraine had been part of NATO before the war, there would be no war,” Zelenskiy told students via video link.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that the risk of Ukraine becoming a NATO member justifies the invasion of its neighbor, which began more than two months ago.