Ukraine will not receive an invitation to join the North Atlantic Alliance at the summit to be held in July. This was confirmed by Julianne Smith, the US Permanent Representative to NATO.
She said, quoted by TASS, that the alliance was not ready last summer to extend a formal invitation to Kiev for full membership.
“And I do not expect the alliance to do so this summer,” she added.
At the same time, Smith noted that the allies could “build a bridge to membership” at the upcoming summit by offering Kiev a concrete plan to allow Ukraine to “move even closer to the alliance.”
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that he did not expect Ukraine to be invited to NATO at the summit in July.
