The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky accepted the invitation to participate in the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
This was reported by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, arriving at a meeting in the Rammstein format in Germany.
"President Zelensky and I discussed preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July. I invited him to participate in the meeting, and I am glad that he accepted the invitation and will participate in the NATO summit in Vilnius," Stoltenberg noted.
The day before, the Secretary General visited Kyiv for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, where he expressed unwavering support for Ukraine.
The NATO summit will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12. Approximately 40 delegations of Alliance member and partner countries will take part in it.
Stoltenberg said that at the July summit in Vilnius, NATO members will discuss Ukraineʼs membership and security guarantees.
- In 2014, Ukraine intensified cooperation with NATO against the background of the Russian occupation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas. The course for joining the Alliance is fixed in the Constitution of Ukraine.
- In 2018, NATO granted Ukraine the status of a candidate country for membership in the Alliance, and in 2020, Ukraine acquired the status of a partner with enhanced opportunities.
- On June 14, 2021, a NATO summit was held in Brussels, in the final communique of which it was noted that the Alliance supports Ukraineʼs accession to NATO.
- On September 30, 2022, after Putin informed about the annexation of the occupied territory of Ukraine. Zelensky informed that Ukraine would submit an application to NATO under an accelerated procedure. Stoltenberg stated that the precondition for the start of negotiations on Ukraineʼs membership in NATO should be its victory, and the members of the Alliance help it in this.