According to Andriy Sibiga, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Ukraine can receive the document necessary to start its path to NATO as early as July 2023.
Ukraine plans to receive a “road map” of the path to NATO at the next summit of the Alliance, which is to be held in July in Vilnius (Lithuania). This was announced on Thursday, March 9, during a conversation with reporters by Deputy Head of the President’s Office Andrei Sibiga.
According to the official, this document will not contain the usual rhetoric about the “open door policy” and will be as specific as possible.
“We are waiting for NATO’s legal response to our membership application, a document that will show us a direct path to membership, without unnecessary procedural steps,” Sibiga said.
He also clarified that there is still no clarity on the issue of the time frame for Ukraine’s entry into NATO. According to the deputy head of the OP, this issue remains unsolved due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The document at the NATO summit should definitely be approved. We need an answer to our application to join NATO. Therefore, this document should set a clear path for us to join, without additional procedural steps,” Sibiga summed up.
Recall that in February, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced that Ukraine de facto joined NATO in 2022. After a meeting with Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the Defense Ministry said that the department was doing everything to legally confirm Ukraine’s status as a NATO country.
Focus also wrote that in early February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the deadline for Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO. The head of state noted that Ukraine has already received the status of a candidate for EU membership, as it has done a lot of work and has already carried out a number of reforms, despite the war.
