Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General discuss summit in Washington
Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euroatlantic Integration for Ukraine, has discussed potential decisions of the NATO Summit in Washington, which will guarantee irreversibility of Ukraine’s NATO membership, with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General.
In the context of the expectations from a future summit in Washington in July 2024, Stefanishyna stated that Ukrainian representatives will work on finalising documents on equal footing with its allies for the first time thanks to the Ukraine-NATO Council format.
"Today, we also discussed potential decisions which would guarantee the irreversibility of Ukraine’s NATO membership. Military and financial commitments of the Alliance were discussed, as Ukraine’s existence itself must be protected with decisive actions," she stressed.
Stoltenberg stressed that increasing the Allie’s support for Ukraine and its stability remain the urgent priority, and a range of the summit’s decisions will be directed at strengthening the defence capabilities of Ukraine through improving the coordination of contributions of the international partners.
Stefanishyna informed Stoltenberg about the complicated situation on the Kharkiv and Sumy fronts, where frontline cities suffer from the Russians’ unprecedented cruelty on a daily basis.
"Our urgent military needs remain unchanged – these are air defence systems, the F-16 fighter jets, ammunition, long-range artillery, armoured equipment and other necessary things," Stefanishyna stressed.
She noted that three to seven Patriot anti-aircraft systems would allow Ukraine to strengthen the security of peaceful cities and protect its power system.
Stefanishyna also participated in the Ukraine–NATO Council meeting which was held in Brussels on 28 May.
Stoltenberg stated at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on 27 May in Sofia that he was waiting for the agreement on strengthening NATO’s role to facilitate a more stable arms supply for Ukraine to be finalised before the summit in Washington.