Zelensky urges Nato to invite Ukraine to join

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday it was time for Nato to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance, and Kyiv wanted to know when it would become a member.

Addressing reporters in war-torn Kyiv with visiting Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, Zelensky said that a Nato summit in Vilnius in July could be “historic” and that he had been invited to attend.

“I am grateful for the invitation to visit the summit, but it is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation,” he told reporters as Stoltenberg visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

“There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance. Now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”

Ukraine, which gained independence from the Moscow-led Soviet Union in 1991, announced a bid to fast-track membership of Nato in September 2022 after the Kremlin said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions that its troops occupied partially.

“We interpret this visit of the secretary-general, the first of the full-scale war, as a sign that the alliance is ready to start a new chapter in relations with Ukraine, the chapter of ambitious decision,” said Zelensky.

Ukraine also wanted security guarantees on its path to becoming a Nato member one day.

Zelensky said he had urged Stoltenberg to press some Nato members who he said were being slow to provide heavy weaponry.

“The holdup of the corresponding decisions is time that is lost for peace and this means the lives of our warriors who have so far not received the necessary defensive instruments in the necessary volumes,” he said.

Reuters