I know from personal observation that there is a great interest in joining NATO. I know that the professionalism of the Ukrainian front-line troops and of the National Guard of Ukraine, which in some ways is better equipped, even, than the front-line troops, is such that they are on par with western standards.
The degree of interoperability is a slightly different question, and that is something that is being worked on, but I don't believe it would be ready by 2018 from what I saw. That said, the Ukrainian military is more than capable of handling its own man for man, as I saw on the front lines. The professionals who are there are very competent and capable and are learning lessons fast. They told me—and I can only refer to what I was told by Ukrainian Spetsnaz troops and military intelligence troops—that against their equivalents in the Russian Federation it's man for man. Against Russian conscripts they will win the war.