Updated 18:14 | Published at 6:01 p.m
Ukraine will become a member of NATO, confirms NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
To make it a reality, the alliance has decided to drop the requirement for an action plan for new members.
– This means that two steps become one, he says.
Jens Stoltenberg has long said that Ukraine belongs in NATO, now he goes a step further.
During the NATO summit in Vilnius, he made a promise that Ukraine will become a member of the defense alliance. However, the country must wait to receive an official invitation from the alliance.
– We can invite Ukraine when the allies agree and the conditions are met, says Stoltenberg.
Removes the requirement for an action plan
Stoltenberg announced that NATO member states have agreed to remove the requirement for an action plan for new members.
– This means that two steps now become one step. Ukraine is beyond an action plan because the country has come so much closer to our alliance, he says.
Ukraine must strengthen its defense
Stoltenberg initially did not want to answer questions about what requirements Ukraine must meet in order to become NATO members.
He also did not want to give a timetable for Ukraine’s NATO process. Something that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has requested.
However, Stoltenberg answered which conditions Ukraine currently does not meet. He says that it is mainly about Ukraine having to strengthen its defense and intelligence institutions.
But the war also complicates the entry process.
– There is a war going on in Ukraine. Therefore, all members agree that this is not the time to make Ukraine a full member of NATO.