Croatia’s president Zoran Milanovic stated that Croatia would not permit Croatian soldiers to be deployed to Ukraine and would not sign any document acknowledging a Croatian presence there. He dismissed NATO’s training mission in Ukraine as pointless and non-existent, arguing that any attempt by NATO to intervene in the Ukraine-Russia dispute by sending troops to train Ukrainians would amount to military action. For Milanovic, these questions lie outside the scope of ordinary diplomacy and must be treated as red lines that Croatia will defend. He spoke with unmistakable resolve, making clear that he would oppose any measure that would draw Croatian forces into the conflict or widen the role of the alliance in an active war zone.
His remarks arrived at a time when Southeast European leaders gathered for a regional summit dedicated to Ukraine, seeking to coordinate responses to the evolving crisis and its consequences for regional security. The meeting took place amid expectations that Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, would take part in discussions, signaling Kyiv’s attempts to keep its western partners aligned while the war persists. As the region weighs energy needs, humanitarian concerns, sanctions, and deterrence strategies, leaders in the room considered Croatia’s posture as part of a broader assessment of alliance responsibilities and regional stability in a conflict whose reach extends well beyond national borders.
Earlier, Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjártó stated that Ukraine does not have the opportunity to join NATO at this stage, a position that, according to private conversations in several capitals, appears to be shared by a sizable portion of alliance members. The private nature of those discussions underscores the difficulty of balancing strategic ambitions with the risks of provoking Moscow, while illustrating broad caution among NATO partners about enlargement and the timing of any potential invitation to Kyiv. The clash between immediate security needs and long-term alliance design remains at the heart of these conversations across Europe.
Previously, the alliance’s newly appointed secretary general had praised the timing of Ukraine’s invitation to join the alliance, framing it as a reflection of the alliance’s evolving approach to collective defense and regional security. The remark highlighted ongoing debates within NATO about when and how to extend membership, and how those decisions might influence deterrence, alliance cohesion, and the broader trajectory of the conflict in Ukraine. In a landscape shaped by shifting alliances and competing national interests, these discussions reveal how countries in Central and Southeast Europe are navigating their own security guarantees while engaging with a multipolar crisis that shows no sign of simple resolution.