France, Aug. 6 -- "I know NATO very well. For roughly 12 years I've personally worked on mastering NATO standards, and every year I've listened to the same fairytale that we're about to join," Zaluzhny said at a meeting of Kyiv's ambassadors on Monday.

"Unfortunately, we never will," he added, in comments quoted by Ukrainian news site European Pravda.

Zaluzhny, a popular figure, was sacked as commander-in-chief by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2024, and is now the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom.

He said that "given the current level of development of the Ukrainian Armed Forces" it was impossible for Ukraine to join the alliance which, according to Zaluzhny, "adheres to doctrines dating from the Second W...