Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend the NATO summit in Vilnius if the leaders of the alliance refuse to invite Ukraine to their bloc. This was stated in an interview with Reuters by the deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, diplomatic adviser to Zelensky Igor Zhovkva.
“The president will not go… to the summit if the leaders are inclined or show a lack of courage, while Ukraine, with all the courage, will and strength, with high morale, is fighting against Russian aggression,” Zhovkva said.
According to him, the Ukrainian authorities want the NATO summit scheduled for July 11-12 in Vilnius to respond to the NATO membership application submitted by Ukraine in September 2022 and invite the country to become a member.
“We are asking you to start the procedure,” said the deputy head of Zelensky’s office. He noted that this is only the first stage, and the Ukrainian authorities understand that the country will not be able to join the alliance while the war is going on.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in early June that it makes no sense for Ukraine to participate in the summit in Vilnius if it does not give a “signal” about the country’s entry into the alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 29 that at the summit, the allies would “send a strong signal of support to Ukraine,” which aspires to become a member of the bloc.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy applied for Ukraine’s accelerated accession to NATO on September 30, 2022. In June 2023, his adviser Igor Zhovkva said that 20 NATO member countries supported Ukraine’s entry into the alliance (31 countries in total).
Source : meduza.io
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