Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, has noted that Ukraine "has no illusions" in its expectations from the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, but Kyiv, in any case, will call on its allies to make a legally binding decision to invite Ukraine to membership. 

Olha Stefanishyna said during a discussion at the Kyiv Security Forum that Kyiv "has no illusions" about the chances of receiving an invitation to join the Alliance at the summit in Washington but will still call on its allies to make such a decision.

She recalled that even before last year's summit in Vilnius, Ukraine proposed a legally binding invitation format.

"We have a very simple position: the invitation issue is much more important than just a political signal for Ukraine... The issue of invitation is not a question of providing weapons, closing the sky or Article 5. This is a matter of legal solution," Olha Stefanishyna stressed, noting that all previous declarations on the prospect of Ukraine's membership in NATO de facto were "just words."

"I would like to remind my foreign counterparts who actively travelled to Moscow after the start of the full-scale war and tried to be intermediaries, as well as those who claim their mediation (...): Ukraine's invitation to NATO is a legal guarantee that there will be no negotiations behind the allies' backs, behind Ukraine's backs. This is an important decision for us, and it will be on the table for as long as necessary," the deputy prime minister stressed.

Stefanishyna added that it is unnecessary to link such a potential decision to the summits of NATO leaders since these events are more of a platform for exchanging views and establishing contacts.

"The decision can be made at any time, and we do not need to wait for a specific meeting at the leadership level," Olha Stefanishyna said.

The deputy prime minister noted that most NATO countries supported the idea of inviting Ukraine at the time of the Vilnius summit.

"There are key opponents of this decision – the United States and Germany. And I think that now the United States does not allow this dialogue to even develop. And this is very sad," Stefanishina added.

During the discussion, the Deputy Prime Minister also commented on an article in the FT about Washington's alleged calls for Kyiv not to strike Russian refineries and noted that such actions by Ukraine are fully in line with NATO's approach.