Ukrainian diplomacy chief Dmytro Kuleba told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday that “it is time to clarify” Ukraine’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance less than two weeks before the Vilnius summit.
“Ukraine continues to work actively with all NATO allies to convince them that it is time to make clear its membership in the Atlantic Alliance,” the Ukrainian minister said on the social network Twitter, after a phone call with Stoltenberg.
Ukraine has systematically appealed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to join the Alliance once the war with Russia is over.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked that the annual summit of the Atlantic Alliance, scheduled for July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, define concrete data for joining NATO
“We are a responsible state and we understand that we cannot be a member of NATO in wartime. But we must be sure that we will be after the war,” he told the Ukrainian parliament.
The Allies are still looking for a common thread in the security guarantees they want to give Kiev, beyond a possible membership.
On the 17th of this month, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, warned that Ukraine will not receive preferential treatment when the question of joining NATO comes up.
“[A Ucrânia] must meet all criteria. So we’re not going to make it easy,” Biden assured reporters.
At the summit to be held in the Lithuanian capital, Jens Stoltenberg has already assured that Ukraine will not be invited to join the Alliance, but underlined that NATO hopes to hold the first meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council with Volodymyr Zelensky. on the top.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, according to the Kremlin, Russia had put the brakes on the neighboring country’s membership of the Atlantic Alliance, threatening its sovereignty.
The Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, has already convinced Finland and Sweden to end decades of neutrality and join the organization.
Finland is already a member of the organization, while Sweden is waiting for Turkey and Hungary to give the ‘green light’ for membership.
Source: DN
