US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stressed the importance of preparing a roadmap for Ukraine's accession to NATO ahead of the 75th-anniversary summit in Washington in July.

Blinken emphasised during a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné that Ukraine will become a NATO member, as the allies stated at the Vilnius summit. The official added that the issue lies in developing a good and clear roadmap to reach this conclusion.

"And I believe that the NATO summit for the 75th anniversary will indeed be highly focused, and quite concretely, as to how we can establish this roadmap. Or to use another image, the bridge – the necessary bridge to allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO," Blinken stated.

On 3-4 April, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will reportedly meet with over a dozen Western counterparts at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, as well as hold talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Kuleba's visit will take place during the NATO Foreign Ministers' Council to mark the 75th anniversary of the Alliance, which will be the first such meeting for Sweden as a full member.

An extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council was held in Brussels on Thursday, 28 April. The meeting was convened at Kyiv's initiative due to Russia's recent large-scale attacks on critical infrastructure.