NATO backs Kyiv’s future membership: Stoltenberg
NATO foreign ministers pledge to support Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure.
KICKING off a two-day meeting in Romania, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine will one day become a member, but adds the more immediate focus should be on arming Kyiv’s forces and supplying non-lethal aid as the winter bites.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has reaffirmed the alliance’s commitment to Ukraine, saying they will one day become a NATO member.
Stoltenberg’s remarks came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts gathered in Romania to discuss increased support for Ukraine as Moscow continues to bombard energy infrastructure.
“NATO’s door is open,” Stoltenberg said.
“Russia does not have a veto” on countries joining, he said about the recent entry of North Macedonia and Montenegro into the security alliance. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will get Finland and Sweden as NATO members” soon.
The Nordic neighbours applied for membership in April, concerned that Russia might target them next.
“We stand by that, too, on membership for Ukraine,” the former Norwegian prime minister said.
NATO foreign ministers
pledged to support Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure amid a wave of Russian attacks that have knocked out power supplies and heating for millions of Ukrainians.
“Russia’s aggression, including its persistent and unconscionable attacks on
Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, is depriving millions of Ukrainians of basic human services,” the foreign ministers said in a statement after the first day of talks in Bucharest.
They condemned Russia’s cruelty against Ukraine’s civilians and promised to assist the country as it repairs its energy infrastructure.
“We will continue and further step up political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity… and will maintain our support for as long as necessary,” the statement noted.
Foreign ministers also confirmed a 2008 NATO summit decision that Ukraine would eventually become a member of the alliance.
Russia has been carrying out massive attacks on Ukraine’s electricity transmission and heating infrastructure roughly weekly since October, in what Kyiv and its allies say is a deliberate campaign to harm civilians and a war crime.