Ukraine is focused on NATO invitation - Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine's primary focus is now on obtaining an invitation to join NATO. This is an incredibly important step for Ukraine, though it remains a challenging goal to achieve, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
"When it comes to NATO, our focus right now is on getting Ukraine invited to join the Alliance. It's a very important step. It’s difficult to achieve, but we are focused on this outcome," he said.
Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is doing everything in its power to secure this result and will continue working toward this goal.
Ukraine's NATO membership
At the NATO summit in Washington, held in early July, Ukraine had hoped to receive an official invitation to join the Alliance, but that did not happen.
NATO limited its statement to affirming that Ukraine's accession to the Alliance is an irreversible process.
According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Olha Stefanishyna, the United States and Germany opposed issuing such an invitation.
Rutte’s visit to Ukraine
Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte officially took up his post as NATO Secretary General. He stressed that supporting Ukraine remains his top priority.
On October 3, Rutte made his first visit to Ukraine in his new role as NATO chief. He had previously visited the country as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. During the visit, Mark Rutte held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
