Vitaly Saenko14:34, 20.04.23

He added that Ukraine should “take the upper hand” in the war with Russia and preserve state independence and sovereignty.

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), says that the future of Ukraine is membership in the Alliance , but now it is necessary to provide military support.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, Stoltenberg said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. The Alliance Secretary General stressed that the Vilnius summit will be important for many reasons. “But no less, I expect member countries to reaffirm their commitment to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Stoltenberg said.

In particular, he expects Allies to once again commit to providing Ukraine with substantial military support to help it win the war and remain an independent and sovereign state.VIDEO OF THE DAYplay video

“I also expect that NATO allies at the Vilnius summit, in the presence of President Zelensky, will agree on a stronger strengthening of the NATO package for Ukraine (Comprehensive Assistance Package – UNIAN) with even more support,” Stoltenberg stressed.

Also, the Secretary General of the Alliance expects Zelensky to raise the issue of Ukraine’s membership and security guarantees at the summit. Stoltenberg noted that these issues will be key on the agenda of the summit and in the process of preparing for the meeting in Vilnius.

“The future of Ukraine is in the Euro-Atlantic family. The future of Ukraine is in NATO. All Allies agree on this. At the same time, the main focus of the Alliance and Allies now is to ensure that Ukraine wins and remains a sovereign, independent and a democratic state in Europe, because this is the only way to have meaningful discussions about Ukraine’s future membership,” Stoltenberg stressed.

In this regard, he stressed that Ukraine’s urgent need now is military support, which the Alliance is working on daily. “We discussed this today. We will discuss this in the Ramstein format at tomorrow’s meeting of the Contact Group, which will be chaired by the United States, in preparation for the Vilnius summit, and also at the summit in Vilnius. Military support for Ukraine will be the main topic,” he said.

The Secretary General of the Alliance stressed that NATO’s doors remain open. According to him, support is provided to Ukraine with the aim of making future membership possible.

Ukraine’s path to NATO

Recall that at the end of September 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed  an application for Ukraine’s accession to NATO in an expedited manner. 

Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commented on this. He said  the doors were open for Ukraine to join NATO,  but now partners are focusing on strengthening its ability to resist the Russian Federation.

Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Ukraine wants to receive  security guarantees from NATO  even before joining the Alliance.

It is known that the president was invited to the NATO summit , which will be held on July 11 in Vilnius.

(C)UNIAN 2023