Ukraine is actively preparing for the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, where it hopes to adopt a “strong” decision that will support its strategic course to join this influential military alliance.
This was stated by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine for Foreign Policy Ihor Zhovkva in an interview with Reuters.
Zhovkva gave an interview before traveling to Luxembourg for a European Union meeting, where Ukraine's accession talks will officially begin, and said that Kyiv wants the NATO summit to end with concrete results.
“I think this summit deserves a strong decision, including on Ukraine. Because, I mean, if you don’t have strong decisions on Ukraine, the summit will be useless,” he said.
He did not specify what he thought would cause such a decision.
Zelensky, who unsuccessfully lobbied for a political invitation to join the alliance at the Vilnius summit last summer, said this year's summit should resolve the issue of inviting Kyiv to membership.
Washington Summit
Although NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Washington have said they do not expect the alliance's 32 members to invite Kyiv to the July 9-11 summit, Stoltenberg said he hopes to show that Ukraine is moving closer to membership.
The allies are discussing a possible text for a summit statement that could send such a signal, for example, a statement that Ukraine's path to NATO is "irreversible.".
“We deserve a firm decision. Any NATO decision is made by consensus. And we know all this and understand that, perhaps, this time the consensus will be formed again on the last day before the summit,” Zhovkva said.
Zhovkva said that the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU has become a "huge incentive" for Ukrainians on the streets and in the trenches, as the largest conflict in Europe since World War II rages on with no end in sight.
“People are now waiting for positive decisions in terms of European integration,” he said. From today, Kyiv will consider the path to EU membership irreversible. “It is pointless to argue now about how long the negotiations will take or anything else. This is very important. The path to full membership, which Ukraine deserves… is irreversible.”.
As a reminder, leaders of 32 NATO countries will gather for a summit in Washington on July 9-11.
