Zelenskyy: Ukraine can and should become 33rd NATO member

Ukrainska Pravda
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists that Ukraine should become the next member of the Alliance right after Sweden.

Source: Zelenskyy on a joint briefing with the leaders of Northern European countries in Helsinki, reports European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy congratulated Finland on becoming the 31st member of the Alliance in April.

"I sincerely wish Sweden to complete the accession procedure as soon as possible. Together with you, NATO will consist of 32 members. Ukraine can and should become the 33rd member. I think so, and I really wish this for our country," Zelenskyy said.

As the Ukrainian president states, Ukraine is aware that while Russian aggression continues, it is impossible to implement its accession procedure.

"But there are no obstacles to a political decision on the algorithm of our accession to NATO," Zelenskyy said.

He stressed that Ukraine has already "made a historic weakening of the greatest threat to all of us: Russian revanchism." The president also stressed that Ukraine is already a de facto member of NATO and cooperates with the Alliance for the benefit of common defence.

At a meeting with the leaders of the Nordic countries, according to Zelenskyy, they talked about the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius and "what we can do together to strengthen NATO and the eastern flank of the Alliance".

Background: During his visit to Kyiv on 20 April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Alliance member countries are preparing to discuss the issue of Ukraine's membership and security guarantees for it at the July summit in Vilnius, but the main focus remains ensuring Ukraine's victory in the war.

At the same time, the German DPA reported that NATO members, in particular Germany and the United States, do not want concrete decisions on Ukraine's membership in the Alliance.

In turn, the US State Department stated that it supports the accession of new members to NATO, including Ukraine, but is now focused on supporting Kyiv in countering Russian aggression.

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