NATO Allies will not discuss invitations for Ukraine during the Vilnius Summit in July. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated this at a press conference following a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
"All allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. We will not discuss the invitation at the Vilnius Summit, but instead we will discuss how to promote Ukraine closer to NATO. I am confident that we will find a good solution to this," he said.
According to Stoltenberg, work is underway on the creation of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, where Ukraine will be equal with its allies, consult and make decisions of common interest.
"Our ambition is to hold the first meeting of the new Council in Vilnius together with President Zelenskyy," he said and called the NATO-Ukraine Council "the body of thirty-two."
The Secretary General assured that this is a different type of work together politically, and "we will bring Ukraine closer to NATO politically."
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the United States and its closest allies are discussing the possibility of a multilateral agreement with Ukraine, which will provide long-term security guarantees to Kyiv instead of a specific promise of NATO membership.
On June 3, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that under the current circumstances, the Membership Action Plan should no longer be a mandatory element in Ukraine's path to NATO.
On May 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine's membership in the Alliance is not on the agenda while Russian aggression continues.
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