Ukraine expects "strong" a decision at the NATO summit, which will be held next month in Washington, the adviser to the Ukrainian president on foreign affairs Igor Zhovkva told Reuters.
"I think it is worth taking a firm decision at this summit, including on Ukraine, because if there is no firm decision on Ukraine, the summit will be useless," he pointed out Zhovkva, without clarifying what exactly such a decision should include.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was unsuccessful in lobbying for his country to receive an invitation to join NATO at last year's summit of the alliance in Vilnius, Reuters recalls. Zelensky emphasized that this year's forum should resolve the issue.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US officials said they did not expect the bloc's 32 members to invite Kiev to join during their consultations next month. However, Stoltenberg indicated that he hopes to show Ukraine that it is moving closer to membership.
Allies are discussing possible wording of a joint summit statement to send such a signal to Kiev. For example, the declaration may say that Ukraine's path to NATO is "irreversible", Reuters points out.
"We deserve a definitive decision. Any decision (by NATO) requires consensus. "We all know this and understand that maybe this time the consensus will be formed again on the last day before the summit," Zhovkva said. He added that today's negotiations for Ukraine's accession to the EU - the other major Western organization to which it aspires - are a "huge incentive" for the Ukrainians in the streets and in the trenches. "Now it is pointless to argue about how long the negotiations will take or anything else. This is very important. The path to full membership, which Ukraine deserves... is irreversible," emphasized Zelensky's foreign policy adviser.