Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha has urged his NATO colleagues in a letter to extend an invitation to Kiev to join the Alliance during the meeting in Brussels next week. This was reported by the Reuters agency.
The letter reflects Kiev's renewed push to receive an invitation to join NATO, which is part of the "victory plan" outlined last month by President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war with Russia.
Ukraine accepts that it cannot join NATO until the war is over. However, according to Kiev, issuing an invitation now would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that one of his main goals, to keep Ukraine out of NATO, cannot be achieved.
NATO has already announced that Ukraine will join the alliance and that the country's path to membership in the alliance is irreversible. However, the military bloc has not issued an invitation for membership and has not made it clear when this might happen. There is no consensus among the member states for Ukraine's accession to NATO.
According to Andrii Sibiha, now is the right time to extend an invitation to Kiev to join the Alliance. According to him, this will be an adequate response of the allies to the constant escalation of the war unleashed by Russia, the latest demonstration of which is the participation of tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers.
Sibiha indicates that the invitation to Ukraine should be made at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, which will take place on December 3-4, 2024.