NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced this Tuesday (11) that the leaders of the Military Alliance have decided to invite Ukraine to become a member of the transatlantic organization as soon as the allies agree and when the country fulfills the conditions .
Stoltenberg told a news conference that NATO “will issue the invitation when the allies agree and the conditions are fulfilled” necessary for Kiev’s entry into the transatlantic organization.
The Norwegian politician expressed himself in this regard to the media during the NATO Heads of State and Government summit taking place this Tuesday and Wednesday (12) in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
Asked about the statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the fact that it is “absurd” that the Alliance does not set a date for inviting his country, Stoltenberg stressed that the allies “decided today to send a strong, united and positive message to Ukraine about lasting support, but also a positive message about the path to membership”.
Stoltenberg noted that the leaders of the allied countries also agreed on Tuesday to simplify the process of Ukraine’s future accession to NATO, by agreeing to eliminate the so-called Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Kiev.
This decision means that the Ukrainian government would not have to participate in a multi-year program to demonstrate that it has carried out the necessary military, economic and political reforms to join the military alliance.
Stoltenberg explained that by removing the MAP requirement, Ukraine’s NATO accession process moves from a “two-step” process to a “one-step” procedure.
The allies also approved this Tuesday a new multi-year program that guarantees the full interoperability of Ukrainian forces with those of the Atlantic Alliance.
Furthermore, the leaders agreed to raise the level of the political relationship with the creation of the NATO-Ukraine Council, a forum in which both parties will participate as equals.
Group of 11 NATO countries will start training Ukrainian F-16 pilots in August
A coalition formed by 11 NATO countries that will participate in the training of Ukrainian pilots in handling F-16 fighter planes will start this training next August. The information was also released this Tuesday by the Danish Minister of Defense, Troels Lund Poulsen, during the Atlantic Alliance summit in Vilnius.
The training center will be installed in Romania, highlighted, in turn, the Dutch Minister of Defence, Kajsa Ollogren, after a ministerial session held in the Lithuanian capital.
Denmark and the Netherlands share the leadership of the alliance among the 11 countries that were willing to offer these fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense.
The Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who arrived today in Vilnius to attend the meetings, confirmed through his Twitter account the signing of the memorandum that makes official the coalition of countries willing to offer their F-16s.
“Ukrainian pilots, technicians and support personnel will participate in a training program,” wrote Reznikov on his Twitter account, where he also hints at the possibility of including other types of combat aircraft in the program.
Zelensky is already in Vilnius to attend the NATO summit
Also this Tuesday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived in Vilnius to attend the NATO summit. The information was revealed by the Ukrainian public news agency Ukrinform, quoting the spokesman for the presidential office, Sergey Nikiforov.
At the summit, Zelensky plans to try to convince NATO member states to pass in the Lithuanian capital a fixed timetable for Ukraine’s membership once the war is over.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov reiterated that his country’s “main objective” is to become a full member of NATO.
“The main objective is full membership,” declared Reznikov upon arriving at the meeting of Allied leaders held in Vilnius, where parallel meetings of Alliance Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs are also taking place.
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