Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Kyiv had little chance of joining NATO despite its ambition to do so, citing resistance within the alliance.

"We as a country would like to join NATO and have reached out to them for years," he told the German daily Bild.

"But the process has stalled. There are causes and reasons for that. Not only Russia is against Ukraine joining."

Zelensky said "individual NATO member countries support Moscow in its position", calling it an "open secret".

He declined to name the countries, saying he was still hopeful they would come around.

"We don't have it easy with these countries and don't want any risks or diplomatic conflicts," he said.

Zelensky said the Ukrainian people should be able to decide whether the country joins NATO but that a referendum at this point would make little sense.

"The road into NATO and the EU is a very long one. Ukraine needs some security guarantees along the way," he said, asking for the support of NATO member states.

"NATO is the guarantee for security, that's what we want to achieve. This guarantee means for us that we won't lose our independence," he said.

Ukraine has long said it wants to join the US-led military alliance but has been told by NATO that it is far from being ready to win acceptance.

The Kremlin is insisting NATO must never grant membership for Ukraine and must roll back its forces near Russia's borders.

But the West has rejected what it calls a bid by Moscow to dictate the future of independent partners and threatened Moscow with "severe costs" if it launches further incursions into Ukraine.

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What we know about Russia's troop deployment near Ukraine
Moscow (AFP) Feb 17, 2022
Russia in recent days has announced several drawdowns of troops from Ukraine's borders, raising hopes that a devastating military escalation in Ukraine can be averted. The West however says there has been no meaningful reduction in the assembled Russian force that has been at the centre of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West for weeks. Here's what we know about Russia's deployment: - How many troops and where? - Since December, Moscow has been running large-scale land, air an ... read more