Deputy Prime Minister hopes for a change in cooperation format between Ukraine and NATO at Vilnius summit
Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, believes that the NATO summit in Vilnius can approve the creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council in a new format.
Source: Stefanishyna during a meeting with journalists, as European Pravda reports, referring to Suspilne national public broadcaster
Quote: "Currently, there is a proposal to announce at the summit in Vilnius the creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council in the format of 32, not 31+1, as envisaged by the Ukraine-NATO Commission, which we currently have," the Deputy Prime Minister explained.
Details: As she states, Kyiv considers the creation of the Council a "tool" for preparing and discussing decisions for the next NATO summit in Washington, which will be on the 75th anniversary of the Alliance.
In addition, according to Stefanishyna, work on the creation of a Ukraine-NATO Joint Center "for training, exercises, situation analysis and exchange of experience" continues.
"The Center is our joint initiative with Poland. However, it is important for us to foresee moving the Center to Ukraine when the security situation allows," she added.
Among other expectations of the Summit of the Alliance in Vilnius, Stefanishyna mentioned the strengthening of support for Ukraine within the framework of the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP).
Background:
- On 20 April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, during his visit to Kyiv, said that at the July summit in Vilnius, the member countries of the Alliance are preparing to discuss the issue of Ukraine's membership and security guarantees for it, but the main issue remains ensuring Ukraine's victory in the war.
- At the same time, the DPA agency reported that NATO members, in particular Germany and the US, do not yet want concrete decisions on Ukraine's membership in the Alliance.
- In turn, the US State Department stated that it supports the accession of new members to NATO, including Ukraine, but for now it is focused on supporting Kyiv in countering Russian aggression.
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