NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Tuesday the allies’ commitment to provide funding and non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, in the framework of a multi-year program with which NATO wants to maintain sustainable support to the Ukrainian Army, although he has not offered Ukraine a timetable for its accession to the organization, as demanded by the Ukrainian authorities.
At a press conference after the joint commission with Ukraine, the most direct meeting between NATO and Kiev since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, NATO’s political chief highlighted the contributions of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom to this fund and indicated, in front of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba, that more allies have announced new commitments to form a sustainable support plan to reinforce the Ukrainian forces.
»I am optimistic that the allies have realized the importance of giving support through the NATO assistance fund and having long-term commitments. By the Vilnius summit I hope to have a substantial amount and a commitment to a multi-year program,» he said after the forum with Ukraine, which had not formally met for five years.
Regarding Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO, Stoltenberg stressed that the doors of the Atlantic Alliance are open to Ukraine, but avoided setting a deadline for opening accession negotiations as requested by Ukraine, which formally applied for membership last September in response to the Russian annexation of several Ukrainian provinces.
Kuleba has asked during the joint commission for a decision already at the Lithuania summit to offer a ‘road map’ to Kiev for its accession, allied sources have reported, a demand that for the time being the allies are not heeding.
At a press conference, Stoltenberg insisted that Ukraine’s accession is still in NATO’s plans, which has been considering Kiev’s Atlanticist perspective since 2008, but he avoided setting deadlines and focused on redoubling military support for Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion.
»It does not change the position that it will be a NATO member. At the same time, we all realize that for there to be significant progress, the first step is for Ukraine to prevail as an independent nation,» stressed the former Norwegian prime minister, who considers Ukraine’s ability to resist Russia’s military offensive a »precondition» for any membership talks.
NO MORE TURKISH BLOCKADE ON SWEDEN The political forum with Ukraine took place on the same day that Finland formally joined NATO after Turkey completed the accession process and the United States received the membership document from Helsinki. This after months of reticence from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the lack of cooperation in the fight against Kurdish terrorism from Finland and Sweden, whose processing is still pending.
In this regard, the Scandinavian politician has defended that Turkey’s veto of Sweden has declined because talks have resumed within NATO and there are «constant contacts «2 for Stockholm to join the Atlantic Alliance for the summit in Lithuania next July.
»Many capitals are working hard to ensure that progress is made,» Stoltenberg said, after the allies have now earmarked the leaders’ summit as the time to conclude the process with Stockholm to become NATO’s 32nd ally.
»There was a deadlock, but there is no more. For months and weeks there were no contacts in the mechanism between Sweden and Turkey, but after the meeting with Erdogan we decided to resume the process», he stressed, to recall that this forum will meet again soon and that there are ongoing contacts to achieve progress in Sweden’s accession.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
