Ukraine has claimed on Tuesday its accession to NATO, on the day the Atlantic Alliance welcomes Finland as its 31st ally, assuring that it would be a »strategic solution» for security in the Euro-Atlantic area.
»NATO and Ukraine need each other. There is no better strategic solution to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic area than Ukraine’s membership in the alliance,» Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba said in remarks ahead of the meeting of allied ministers in Brussels.
According to Kuleba, Finland’s entry into NATO is a »clear message» of the need to revise security perceptions, referring to Helsinki’s historical neutrality, and he claimed that »there is no better way to ensure Euro-Atlantic security than with Ukraine’s accession».
For his part, NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed Kuleba upon his arrival at the allied headquarters and praised the determination and courage of the Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, in the face of a war that tends to drag on.
This Tuesday the joint commission between NATO and Ukraine takes place, the most explicit meeting between the Alliance and Kiev since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. Kuleba has assured that the format is not only symbolic but »politically important» and has advanced that he will ask the allied foreign ministers to speed up the delivery of the promised material to Ukraine. NATO intends to work on a »multi-year program» of support to Ukraine to ensure lasting and sustainable support.
Kiev applied last September for membership in the military organization, although NATO has not discussed within itself the processing of this accession and has limited itself to pointing out that the priority now is to confront the Russian invasion.
The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, considers that Ukraine is already »de facto» part of an Alliance and has demonstrated that it is fully compatible with the standards set by NATO for its enlargement, after months of mutual collaboration.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
