Ukraine's future is in NATO, the organization's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The two spoke before today's upcoming meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council within the framework of the alliance summit in Washington. Yesterday, the leaders of the countries of the pact promised in the final declaration at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council - the highest political decision-making body in NATO, that Ukraine's path to membership in the organization is irreversible.
Stoltenberg confirmed that he could not specify specific dates for the former Soviet republic's accession to the Western military alliance, but listed a number of concrete measures for building a "membership bridge".
Ukraine's path to NATO membership is now irreversible, Zelensky emphasized.
He thanked NATO for the assistance it provides to Kiev and called for its speedy delivery.
In the declaration adopted yesterday, the alliance officially committed to providing military aid to Ukraine in the amount of 40 billion euros next year.
Among the specific measures to bring Ukraine closer to NATO, Stoltenberg pointed to the fact that more than 20 of the 32 member states of the alliance have already signed a bilateral security agreement with the former Soviet republic.
Only in Washington did Romania and Luxembourg conclude such agreements with Ukraine.
Zelensky explicitly mentioned the agreement with Bucharest at the press conference.
As another concrete measure, Stoltenberg pointed to the increase of mutual interoperability between the armed forces of Ukraine and the NATO countries.
F-16 fighter jets, air defenses and permission from our allies to strike deep into Russian territory with their supplied weapons. This is what we need, Zelensky stressed.
The Ukrainian president once again condemned the Russian aggression against his country and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Russia's attacks in Ukraine, including during the NATO summit, are intended to intimidate. But instead of destabilizing the countries of the alliance, they achieve the exact opposite effect. NATO strongly supports Ukraine, commented Stoltenberg.