(Corrects paragraph 8 to say Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as Ukraine's top commander in 2024, not last year)

Aug 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine's former ‌top military commander, now ambassador to Britain, was quoted as ‌saying on Monday that there was no prospect of the country joining NATO, an ​aspiration entrenched in the constitution.

Valery Zaluzhnyi, quoted by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, told a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met the military standards needed to join the alliance.

"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," Evropeiska Pravda quoted him as telling the meeting.

"Unfortunately, we will never actually join."

Zaluzhnyi said it was "impossible with the level of ​development that ​the Armed Forces of Ukraine have … ​to join an organisation guided ‌by World War II doctrines".

Ukraine needed the technology "already in use in NATO member-states, including anti-missile defence, space capabilities etc", he was quoted as saying.

Ukraine has enshrined in its constitution a strategic goal of membership of NATO and the European Union. It has, however, acknowledged that currently it would ‌not be welcomed into NATO by all ​its members.

Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as Ukraine's top ​commander in 2024 over differences ​with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on conducting the war with ‌Russia, now well into its fifth ​year.

Opinion surveys on ​voter trust put him roughly on a par with Zelenskiy and with former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, sacked as defence minister last ​month. Zaluzhnyi's successor ‌as top commander was also dismissed last month.

Russia has rejected out ​of hand any notion of Ukrainian membership of NATO.

(Reporting by ​Ron Popeski; Editing by Stephen Coates)