The leaders of nine countries from NATO from Central and Eastern Europe He issued a joint statement on Sunday in support of Ukraine’s path to coalition membership.
“We stand firmly behind the decision of the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest on Ukraine’s future membership,” the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, North Macedonia and Slovakia said on Sunday.
At that 2008 summit, NATO allies said they Ukraine “welcomed” and Georgia’s aspirations to join the alliance, although no clear timetable has ever been announced.
Mykhailo Podolyak, Consultant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyon Twitter on Sunday that 10 NATO countries support Ukraine’s bid for membership, including some that once belonged to the Soviet Union.
“We are grateful for the leadership and responsibility,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter. History is made today.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a meeting with military officials while visiting the war-ravaged Mykolaiv region.
(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Zelensky said on Friday that Kyiv has “accelerated” its implementation NATO membership after Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions.
“Indeed, we have already demonstrated compliance with the standards of the Alliance. It is real for Ukraine – real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction,” Zelensky said. “We trust each other, help each other, and protect each other. This is the alliance.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declined to comment on Ukraine’s path to membership, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that any decision “must be taken by consensus” But the coalition’s “top priority” is support for Ukraine.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that the United States supports NATO’s open door policy for countries that wish to join.
“Right now, our view is that the best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical support on the ground in Ukraine, and that the process in Brussels should be taken up at a different time,” Sullivan said during a newspaper. conspiracy.
