Ukraine joins NATO's Article 5 exercises: what it means? General Staff has the answer

Ukrainian experts participated for the first time in exercising the mechanisms of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty during the NATO Loyal Dolos 2025 drills.

The exercises involved representatives from the NATO–Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training, and Education Centre (JATEC), Caliber.Az reports, citing the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces

The Ukrainian side took part in the final phase of the exercises, which focused on assessing the combat capabilities of Alliance units. The General Staff emphasised that lessons from Russia’s war against Ukraine were integrated into the scenario, allowing the training to be adapted to the conditions of a modern, rapidly changing battlefield.

Article 5 of NATO is a key principle of collective defence and stipulates that an attack on one member country of the Alliance is considered an attack on all. The Loyal Dolos 2025 exercises are one of NATO’s main activities for training this mechanism. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine notes that involving Ukrainian experts in such exercises has strategic significance, as it marks the first time Ukraine participated in practical exercises on the Alliance’s collective security.

According to Ukraine’s senior national representative at JATEC, Colonel Valeriy Vishnevskyi, participation in the exercises contributed to Ukraine being recognised as one of the most experienced participants in the regional security system and highlighted the importance of NATO’s interaction with Ukraine’s defence forces.

The exercises involved about 1,500 military personnel and civilian specialists across various locations in Europe. Loyal Dolos 2025 became a flagship event of NATO’s training program this year and aimed to test the Alliance’s ability to operate cohesively across multiple domains simultaneously, in line with the strategy of creating more interconnected and adaptive forces.

By Khagan Isayev