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Exclusive interview of the NATO's Senior Representative to Ukraine, Patrick Turner, to Interfax-Ukraine News Agency

Text: Valerie Proshchenko

Tell us about your responsibilities as the new head of the NATO Representation in Ukraine. I understand that you have only been there for 3 months,  but what do you expect to accomplish in the coming months and what are the main tasks?

Yes, I've been here for three months. I was appointed in the summer by the former NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. Before that, I had a long background in NATO. I worked for three Secretaries-General in the 1990s, then as the Deputy British Ambassador to NATO. Also, I was later part of NATO’s  International Staff as Assistant Secretary General heading first the Operations Division and then the Defence Policy and Planning Division. I was doing that latter job at the time of the full-scale invasion in 2022, and I did that job for some months afterward. So firstly, I can say that I know something about NATO, and secondly, I am passionate about Ukraine. I want Ukraine to prevail and be truly secure.

This is the first time that the NATO office in Ukraine has had a head at the level of an Assistant Secretary General. That's a sign of how seriously NATO takes the relationship with Ukraine and how important NATO thinks Ukraine is now and into the future. This is also clear from the decision made by the new Secretary General, Mark Rutte, in early October, to make his first official trip  to Ukraine.

You know that NATO has had some form of presence here for 26 years. It's taken different forms of a Liaison Office and an Information and Documentation Centre,  but now we're a NATO Representation. During this year, the NATO presence here has