Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine`s ambassador to the United Kingdom and former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said he doubts Ukraine will ever join NATO.

He made the comment during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv, the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda reported.

"I know NATO really well. For about 12 years I personally worked on making sure we met NATO standards, and every year I heard tales about how we would join NATO any day now. Unfortunately, we will never actually join… "[It`s] impossible with the level of development that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have, to join an organization guided by the doctrines of World War II", - said Zaluzhnyi.

He acknowledged that "Ukraine needs technologies that NATO countries currently possess". Still, Zaluzhnyi said Ukraine is likely to join alliances that have yet to be formed: "Most likely, we're talking about a European military-political security bloc".

Zaluzhnyi also said he regrets that Ukraine is not working toward joining the Joint Expeditionary Force [JEF], a military coalition led by the United Kingdom.

Unlike NATO, JEF does not require its members to defend one another, writes European Pravda.