Members of NATO’s eastern bloc hope the group’s Vilnius summit in July will put Ukraine on a clearer path to membership once its war with Russia ends, the countries told a summit in Bratislava on Tuesday. (6).
NATO allies have discussed the speed of Ukraine’s eventual membership of the alliance, and the Kiev regime itself acknowledges that it cannot join the group until the war that started with the Russian invasion is over.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met European leaders last week in Moldova when he urged NATO to provide security guarantees if membership is not possible for now.
The presidents of NATO’s eastern countries, most of which border Ukraine or Russia, met on Tuesday with the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, in a sign of greater support for Ukraine’s rapprochement with to NATO.
“We are in favor of strengthening relations with Ukraine in terms of concrete practical help, but also for closer relations with Ukraine,” Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, host of the meeting, said at a televised press conference.
“We do not consider this to be a NATO expansion or invasion towards Russia,” she added, saying it would instead provide assurances to alliance members that Russia would not absorb countries into its borders.
Eastern flank countries Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia — collectively known as the Bucharest Nine — are among Ukraine’s strongest supporters.
(Fabio Mendes)
Source: CNN Brasil
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