Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy giving a press conference during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on 12 July 2023.

NATO Promises a Shared but Undefined Future to Ukraine

At first glance, the declaration of wanting to see Ukraine in NATO does not seem much more than what the country was already told in 2008. But the truth is that Ukraine is closer than ever to joining the Alliance, which was indicated not only by the unanimous adoption of the closing communiqué, picturing Ukraine’s future within NATO, but also by the fact that Ukraine can skip the preliminary Membership Action Plan (MAP) that every other post-Soviet country had to undergo and negotiate defence issues as an equal partner in the established NATO Ukraine Council.

The Li-2 passenger plane of the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Aviation Corporation (MASZOVLET) with the registration number HA-LIA at Budaörs airport.

Criminals or Defectors? — The Story of a Hijacking in 1956

A short story of a group of desperate young Hungarians who in 1956, disillusioned with socialism, overpowered the passengers and the secret agent on a plane, successfully flew it to Germany, and the leaders of whom eventually became members of the US military.