Either Ukraine or the NATO alliance should disappear, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, concerning the alliance's decision to grant Ukraine membership "irreversible."

“The conclusion is obvious. We have to do everything to make sure that the ‘irreversible path of  Ukraine’ towards NATO ends with either the disappearance of Ukraine, or the disappearance of NATO. Better, both,” Medvedev said on Thursday.

During the NATO summit in Washington DC, the bloc reiterated their support for Ukraine's “right to choose its own security arrangements,” proclaiming that it is on an “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”

Russia has frequently stressed that the former Soviet state's adoption into the alliance is crossing a "red line," and that the European bloc was one of the main triggers for Russia's war with Ukraine.

Medvedev called for cautiousness should Ukraine accept Russia's terms for a ceasefire, including revoking their NATO aspirations. However, the politician warned that the acceptance of negotiated peace could spark internal unrest in Ukraine potentially a coup or the rise of a new radical government, reigniting hostilities between the two nations, while jeopardizing Ukraine's sovereignty.

If such an event should arise, Medvedev predicted that “the enemies of Russia will not go anywhere” and will “gather strength for a new attempt to destroy our country."

Within the past year, Ukraine has signed approximately 20 bilateral security agreements with NATO's member-states, including a deal with Luxembourg that was finalized in Washington DC. However, the European bloc is yet to grant Ukraine membership due to its ongoing war with Russia, and its corruption. 

Ukraine's 'irreversible' NATO membership mainly symbolic

Although the United States opposes guaranteeing Kiev entry into the alliance before it has resolved corruption issues, the joint statement expected to come out of the NATO leaders' summit this week will mention that Ukraine is on an "irreversible path" toward membership, according to US officials cited in The Washington Post on Tuesday. The statement will primarily be symbolic.

Other NATO countries want to show that Ukraine is moving toward membership, according to The Washington Post. However, other officials admitted that this move—using the phrase "irreversible" in the upcoming joint statement—is more symbolic than substantive.

According to the report, President Joe Biden has obstructed NATO's attempts to make a more significant gesture about Ukraine's possibilities for membership, primarily because he wants to see the country make concrete efforts to eradicate corruption before being assured of any entry.

According to the article, the US president originally objected to the idea of making Ukraine's entry into NATO permanent.

According to the report, Biden thinks that if corruption in Ukraine is allowed to persist when it joins NATO, it might lead to problems for the entire alliance that may be challenging to resolve.