Ukraine's Foreign Minister on NATO summit: NATO shouldn't keep Ukraine "in limbo" on membership prospects

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he was disappointed with the NATO decision on Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance, which came short of inviting Ukraine to join.

Source: Dmytro Kuleba in Bloomberg

Details: Kuleba said that NATO should not keep Ukraine in limbo on its membership status, but admitted that the Vilnius summit decisions have made Kyiv’s pathway to NATO membership shorter.

He stressed that Ukraine’s pathway to NATO would have been even quicker if NATO leaders gave it a clear indication of when it might be invited to join.

Bloomberg reported that Kuleba added that all conditions were already in place for Kyiv to receive an invitation at the summit in Vilnius and Ukraine will keep working with NATO members on a timeline.

The Vilnius summit decision contains positive wording regarding Ukraine. In particular, NATO agreed to remove the requirement for a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine, while also making it clear that Ukraine will be invited to join NATO when it meets all the necessary conditions.

The decision does not contain a list of conditions to be fulfilled by Ukraine, but it does set out a mechanism for their evaluation. The Annual National Program (ANP) will be used to monitor the reforms implemented by Ukraine. Ukraine already has this tool at its disposal.

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