How to defend Ukraine without NATO membership -. The Washington Post. Liz Howard, a professor of political science at Georgetown University, and Michael O'Hanlon, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, believe it is necessary to create a new structure separate from NATO. So far, several European countries have offered Ukraine long-term security assistance packages that would complement their current efforts to provide arms and financial aid to Kyiv. It is useful, but not enough. What is needed is more than just a set of bilateral treaties and security assistance packages from the EU, but something different from NATO membership. The United States should facilitate an agreement involving Russia, Ukraine, NATO, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (which followed the 2014-2022 ceasefire). First, the parties must agree that Ukraine will not join NATO in the future. Second, a new security organization or structure should be created, separate from NATO, that would allow members to help each other defend their territory in case of crisis or conflict. In the future, this organization may be open to Russian membership, provided Moscow agrees to permanently cease its aggressive attempts to change borders. This new security system would allow Western countries to send troops to Ukraine for tasks such as air and missile defense maintenance, and possibly equipment repair and maintenance in the event of another Russian attack on Ukraine. However, there are no plans to deploy forces on the territory of Ukraine in peacetime. There are also no plans to launch counterattacks on Russian territory. The military purposes of the new structure are purely defensive.