Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to a media report that stated there was a lack of specific commitments among NATO members on Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance.

Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, said that the arguments outlined by the DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German Press Agency) "constitute a set of erroneous judgements that have long since lost their relevance".

Nikolenko stressed that Ukrainians are making the largest contribution to Euro-Atlantic security, and said that the Ukrainian army was currently the most powerful in Europe.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman also responded to the claim that there is a need to avoid measures that might "provoke" Russia to new aggression, saying that "the only thing that is provoking Russia is ambiguity".

"Ukraine’s non-alignment did not help deter Russia from aggression. The diplomatic efforts of Ukraine, France and Germany within the framework of the Minsk process also failed to prevent a full-scale Russian invasion. This is because Moscow’s goal is to completely destroy Ukraine. In contrast, progress on Ukraine’s accession to NATO will force Russia to curb its aggression," Nikolenko emphasised on Facebook.

He added that international support for Ukraine in countering Russia does not contradict, but rather contributes to the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

"The future of Euro Atlantic security is decided on the battlefield in Ukraine, and our country’s accession to NATO will guarantee the entire Alliance’s strategic security," Nikolenko said.

He added: "Ukraine is not a problem for NATO but an asset."

"That is why we respond to anonymous sources [cited in DPA] by stressing that Ukraine’s accession to NATO is in the Alliance’s very interest, and are calling on our partners to exercise leadership," the Foreign Ministry spokesman concluded.

The German Press Agency earlier reported that some NATO member states, including Germany and the US, do not currently want any concrete decisions to be made on Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance.

A spokesman for the US Department of State said that the US stood by NATO’s open door policy but was currently focusing on "ensuring that we can support our Ukrainian partners to take on the challenges that they are facing currently, and that is immense Russian aggression".