Kuleba says Black Sea should become NATO sea. Kremlin reacts

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

"The upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius is the right time to correct mistakes or the past by taking resolute steps forward on the path to Ukraine’s NATO membership. To show that the door is not only open, but there is a clear plan on when and how Ukraine will enter it," Kuleba said during a speech at the opening of the Black Sea Security Conference of the International Crimean Platform, which is taking place in Bucharest.

According to him, the strategy of appeasing the aggressor does not work in the case of Russia.

"When fear-driven cautiousness closed NATO doors to Ukraine and Georgia in 2008, Russia quickly responded with attacking both. Russia was becoming a maniac, but some leaders decided that the best strategy was to keep the maniac happy. Including by keeping his potential victims defenseless," the minister emphasized.

He emphasized that the Black Sea should become what the Baltic Sea has become - a NATO sea. 

"We are a community. United not only by common values, but also by a common sea. We all want it to be an area of peace and prosperity, not a war zone. Black Sea is instrumental for making the whole of Europe peaceful and future-oriented," Kuleba said.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted to Kuleba's statement about a "NATO sea" and said that "this will never happen."

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to attend the NATO summit to be held in July in Vilnius.