President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron adopted a joint declaration in which, among other things, Paris expresses support for Ukraine's move towards NATO membership.

According to the declaration, "within NATO, France continues to focus on direct support for Ukraine," "France fully supports the Ukraine-NATO Commission as a platform for further strengthening and expanding the current cooperation to help Ukraine move towards the Euro-Atlantic family in accordance with the Bucharest Declaration".

The declaration defines Ukraine's path to full membership, but through the stage of the Membership Action Plan, which Kyiv is not satisfied with now. As a separate clause, the declaration notes that "Ukraine and France look forward to resolving these issues at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023".

Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President, commented on the document, noting that the approval of the declaration "with similar wording regarding NATO was simply impossible before".

"The joint declaration made it possible to strengthen Ukraine's support in the Euro-Atlantic direction with one more important voice," Zhovkva noted.  

As part of his tour of European capitals this weekend, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy adopted declarations with similar wording with the leaders of Italy and Germany.