Cabinet minister ‘can’t predict’ whether Ukraine will become part of Nato

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said the UK does not want to see “Ukraine coerced into accepting a deal” it does not want after Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that territory under his control should be taken under the “Nato umbrella” to try to stop the “hot stage” of the war with Russia.

He said Ukraine could then get back the other parts of its territory “diplomatically”.

Mr McFadden told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I don’t know whether Ukraine will be part of Nato or not in the future, I can’t predict that.

“What I do know is that I want the country to be free to make decisions about its own future.”

He added that any application would “have to be considered properly by Nato in the future”.

Asked if the UK would back a deal that would see Russia keeping control of areas such as Crimea if the Ukrainians agreed, Mr McFadden said: “The principle that we would approach anything around that would be that Ukraine’s got to be free to make its choices.

“We don’t want to see Ukraine coerced into accepting a deal that it doesn’t want, and we want them to be free to make their own choices.

“And that’s the stance we’ve taken all the way through because we understand the stakes here. If President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is rewarded with the country being totally under his thumb in the future, what signal does that send out to the other countries in eastern Europe?”

Last month Mr Zelensky revealed a victory plan, and the Associated Press reported that he believed the bid to win his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion could bring peace next year, but it contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to accept: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.