NATO's draft communiqué calls Ukraine's path to Alliance irreversible - media

CNN reported the information, citing three anonymous sources.

The question of how strong guarantees to give Ukraine regarding its future NATO membership has become a key source of debate among the 32 members of the Alliance ahead of the summit in Washington, CNN reports.

The draft may change, but the presence of the wording on irreversible accession will be an important signal for Kyiv and Moscow.

One of the outlet's sources, a US official, said that the White House supports the use of this word in the final communiqué, as long as the document also confirms that Ukraine's work on democratic reforms should continue.

Another US administration official said that the Alliance will make “important new announcements on how we are increasing NATO's military, political and financial support for Ukraine” as part of the “bridge to NATO.”

What is known about the NATO summit

The 75th Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance is scheduled to take place on July 9-11 in Washington, DC.

On April 27, former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said that Ukraine's accession to the Alliance would be considered at the July NATO summit in Washington. At the same time, Gottemoeller explained that some members of the Alliance currently believe that Ukraine should not join NATO while the war is ongoing.

On June 23, Radio Liberty's British correspondent reported that the UK is initiating a series of talks with the US and Germany ahead of the NATO summit in Washington to persuade them to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance. The correspondent emphasized that the UK continues to use its foreign policy influence to help Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that NATO will announce a mission to help Ukraine at a summit in the United States. The NYT noted that Ukraine will not start membership talks at the upcoming NATO summit, but the Alliance will announce a structure to coordinate assistance in the long term.

On July 5, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said that during the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, the allies would raise the issue of strengthening Ukraine's air defense and integrating the country into the Alliance.