Ukraine moving towards NATO membership will be considered success at Alliance summit in Vilnius

The issue of moving towards membership in the North Atlantic Alliance is the key one at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

Source: Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 7 April, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "Any decision [of the NATO summit – ed.] that means that we move from the phrase 'the door is open' to the phrase 'Ukraine is on the verge of NATO membership' will be considered a successful result," the minister stressed.

Details: Kuleba also announced "many other decisions" at the NATO summit, including a new multi-year support plan for Ukraine and "certain security guarantees for Ukraine". "However, the jewel in this crown is the membership issue, that is, how we move towards membership," he stressed.

"I would like to emphasise once again that we sincerely appreciate the practical assistance that NATO provides to Ukraine. However, the key issue is currently different, and it is membership. As there is no other way to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic area and prevent Russia's next aggression against Ukraine," the Foreign Minister added later.

"There is only one way out, only one path, and this path is Ukraine's membership in NATO. No MAP (membership action plan – ed.), no multi-year plans, but a clear, understandable, time-bound algorithm of what NATO does, and what Ukraine does," he concluded.

Background: In September 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, and it expects to receive new guarantees of membership at the upcoming summit in Vilnius. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said that Ukraine will not accept alternative proposals that could replace NATO membership.

Earlier, Dmytro Kuleba said that the issue of granting Ukraine a NATO Membership Action Plan was no longer on the agenda. As he states, Ukraine has applied for membership and expects decisions to be made at the Vilnius summit that will bring Ukraine closer to NATO.

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