MOSCOW, June 30 Ukraine wants to receive an invitation to start the accession process to NATO at the July summit of the alliance, otherwise Vladimir Zelensky will not go to it, Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of Zelensky's office, told Reuters. means «invitation to membership». «We are asking you to start the procedure,» Zhovkva said, «thumping the table» during the interview.
An office representative threatened that if the summit «does not produce results» and the members of the alliance «show a lack of courage,» then there will be no reason for Zelensky to go there.
The NATO summit is to be held on July 11-12 in Vilnius.
Only invited to the «fields» The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Kuleba, in an interview with CNN on Wednesday said that Ukraine was invited to take part only in the meeting on the «fields» of the July NATO summit in Vilnius. membership of Ukraine. In his opinion, there are all conditions for inviting Kyiv to NATO, and if the alliance «does not make a strong decision» on Ukraine's membership, then «the logic of fear will prevail.»
«Powerful signal» Zelensky himself on Wednesday at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada again called on Western countries to accept Kiev into NATO and the European Union.
«If NATO guarantees the security of Ukraine, our forces will guarantee the security and protection of other NATO members. To this has become a reality, one thing is needed — that all our partners in the alliance stop looking at the Kremlin when approving their important decisions. Ukraine's entry into NATO will be a powerful signal for the world,» he said.
Kiev expects from the upcoming NATO summit, which will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12, maximum specifics in ensuring the security of Ukraine, they expect that its decisions will be the opposite of the «Budapest Memorandum», said, for his part, the Secretary of National Security and Defense (NSDC) of the country Alexey Danilov.
«Surprise» Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, speaking in Brussels at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, promised a «surprise» on Ukraine's membership at the bloc's July summit in Vilnius. The NATO Secretary General did not refute her words, but expressed confidence that the leaders at the summit meeting would «come to a common position» on this issue.
Stoltenberg said the summit would decide both on long-term practical support for Kyiv and on strengthening NATO's political ties with Ukraine. «It is too early to anticipate the results of the summit. Consultations are now underway, as always happens on the important decisions that we need to make. But I am absolutely sure that the leaders at the summit will come to a common position on how to respond to Ukraine's expectations on membership … NATO leaders Vilnius will approve a multi-year package of practical support for Ukraine, but we are also discussing the strengthening of political ties, including through the potential coordination of the NATO-Ukraine Council,» the Secretary General explained.
At the same time, he said that the alliance would consider Ukraine's desire to join the bloc «after the summit» in Vilnius.
At the same time, the Secretary General noted that «the most important thing is to continue supporting Ukraine.» «And, of course, the EU's decision to grant Ukraine the status of an EU candidate country has its impact on the discussions going on in NATO,» he added.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the Kremlin heard Zelensky's request for Ukraine's accession to NATO, as well as different reactions to it. According to him, Moscow is closely watching the situation and remembers that it was Kyiv's orientation towards the alliance that became one of the reasons for the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine.