The presidents of Poland and Lithuania support the idea of Ukraineʼs integration into NATO

The presidents of Poland and Lithuania, Andrzej Duda and Gitanas Nauseda, support the idea of providing Ukraine with clear prospects for NATO membership. This is reported by Interfax.

"Today Gitanas Nauseda and I are trying to make the decisions of the NATO summit that will be adopted very clearly show the prospect of Ukraineʼs membership in NATO! Today, it is important to strengthen the security of NATOʼs eastern flank, and thus to strengthen the security of our part of Europe. And to bring Ukraine as close as possible to NATO, to cover it with security guarantees that would finally drive away the Russian aggressor," Duda said after talks with Nauseda and Zelenskyi.

Nauseda added that the main message is that Ukraine will be a member of NATO, Lithuania supports Ukraineʼs membership in NATO. According to him, it should be clearly stated at the July summit in Vilnius that Ukraine is an integral part of the NATO architecture in Europe.

At its meeting on June 28, the Verkhovna Rada approved an application to the countries of the Alliance before the summit in Vilnius. Basic requirements:

• undertake to grant Ukraine full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and provide for a mechanism for inviting Ukraine to NATO;
• to recognize the impracticality of Ukraine passing the "Action Plan on NATO Membership" stage and to make a strategic decision in Vilnius to invite Ukraine to NATO membership;
• to develop effective mechanisms for guaranteeing peace and security in Europe, which will not become an alternative to Ukraineʼs membership in the Alliance.

A summit of NATO countries will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, said that at this summit, the Alliance should make a political decision: to present a timetable for Ukraineʼs accession or to undertake to do so by the end of the year so that this would be a signal to Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi will also come to the summit — he has accepted the invitation.

• On June 15, the European Parliament called on NATO to invite Ukraine to the Alliance. The EU and its member states, together with NATO allies, should work closely with Ukraine to develop a time frame for security guarantees to be put in place immediately after the war. The Parliament emphasizes that Ukraineʼs integration into both NATO and the EU will strengthen regional and global security and strengthen ties between Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic community.