Ukrainian foreign minister says there is currently no consensus in NATO regarding the timetable for Kiev’s accession to the alliance
Ukraine will become a NATO member before it joins the European Union, the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with the Liga newspaper published on Thursday.
“I will not name any dates. But according to the logic of the historical process, I can fairly confidently assume that Ukraine will become a NATO member before it becomes an EU member”, – he said when asked about the date of the country’s possible accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
Kuleba stated that currently there was no consensus in NATO regarding the timetable for Ukraine’s accession to the alliance.
“There is a political consensus that Ukraine will eventually join NATO. And it was confirmed at the last summit. But we are not ready to give any benchmarks or build a timetable for our accession to NATO. It is sad, but this is reality that we have to work with”, – the Ukrainian diplomat said.
According to him, Kiev has carried out enough reforms for it to open “a clear new stage in Euro-Atlantic integration”.
“And if we saw this movement, it would be additional motivation for further reforms”, – he continued.
The minister added that he was “very aware of the list of countries” that have turned calls to continue reforms in Ukraine “into an excuse for their unwillingness to take steps forward” on Kiev’s integration into NATO.
Participants at the 14 June NATO summit said in a final statement that Ukraine and Georgia could become members of the alliance in the future. However, the communiqué said nothing about a possible timeline for the admission of these countries to NATO, nor about the prospect of providing them with Membership Action Plans. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski has repeatedly stated in recent months that Kiev would like further movement on this issue.