Stoltenberg invites Zelenskyy to NATO summit and explains what to expect from it
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Alliance's summit in Washington but noted that the consent of all its members is required to invite Ukraine to NATO.
Stoltenberg said at a press conference with Zelenskyy in Kyiv that he and Zelenskyy discussed preparations for the NATO anniversary summit in Washington.
"Mr President [Zelenskyy], I look forward to welcoming you to Washington for that meeting [NATO summit]," he said.
Stoltenberg stressed that Ukraine's place is in NATO, and it will become a member one day.
However, he noted that Ukraine should not expect to receive an invitation to join the Alliance in Washington.
"Allies really believe that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO… To have that decision [to invite Ukraine to join NATO], we need all allies to agree, we need consensus, we need not a majority, but actually 32 Allies to agree.
And I do not expect that we will have that agreement by the summit in July. But I really hope that we can demonstrate that we are moving Ukraine closer to membership, and that day will arrive as soon as possible for us to have Ukraine as a full member," Stoltenberg said.
The secretary-general noted that the work is underway to ensure that Ukraine is interoperable with NATO and meets the Alliance's standards so that one day, when "the time is right, Ukraine can become a NATO member straightaway".
Earlier, it was reported that the United States and Germany are key NATO allies that are not ready for a format of inviting Ukraine to join the Alliance that would be legally binding and create certainty about Ukraine's future accession to NATO.
The North Atlantic Alliance has seen "concrete steps" by the Ukrainian authorities in implementing the adapted Annual National Programme (ANP), a reform plan for 2024 designed to bring Kyiv closer to NATO membership.
The adapted Annual National Programme became a tool for NATO to assess Ukraine's progress towards membership following the Vilnius Summit in July 2023. At that time, the Alliance decided to cancel one of the intermediate steps on this path, namely the submission of a Membership Action Plan (MAP).