Lithuania's Parliament: Summit in Vilnius Should Invite Ukraine to NATO
On Thursday, the Lithuanian Parliament unanimously approved a resolution with a clause to officially invite Ukraine to NATO at the Alliance summit in Vilnius in July.
As LRT informs, the document states that "it is necessary to invite" Ukraine "to join NATO as a member state" at the NATO summit in Vilnius, "to sign accession protocols, and launch the ratification process once conditions allow."
At the same time, the parliamentarians underlined that "it is necessary to sign the accession protocols and start the ratification process as soon as conditions permit."
According to the resolution submitted by representatives of various political groups, inviting Ukraine would be a strategic decision by NATO to achieve peace in Ukraine and Europe.
The document also emphasises the necessity to significantly strengthen forward defence and deterrence in the Baltic region and the entire eastern flank of NATO, as well as to increase allied ground forces permanently deployed in Lithuania to the level of a brigade.
The resolution also anchors an aspiration to strengthen integrated air and missile defence, including air defence capabilities in Lithuania and the entire region, as well as an aspiration to ensure readiness to host allied troops in the country.
The document outlines an aspiration relating to the defence spending commitment of all NATO member states and an aspiration to agree on long-term investment in defence capabilities and the defence industry.
Lithuania will host the NATO summit for the first time on July 11-12. About 40 delegations from NATO member countries and partners will participate.
Previously, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, believed that at the summit in Vilnius, the Alliance should offer further steps for Ukraine's membership (Ukr) - in particular, strategic security guarantees on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's ambition is to advance as far as possible (Ukr) to membership in the Alliance at the summit in Vilnius in the summer.