Ukraine to become NATO member by 2034, Stoltenberg hopes

He said this in an interview with the dpa agency, Deutsche Welle reports.

According to Stoltenberg, the stronger Kyiv's military support is, the sooner the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine can end.

According to the NATO Secretary General, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is implementing a delaying strategy in Ukraine, hoping to weaken the West's resolve.

"Putin thinks he can sit us out. We have to convince him that he will not be able to sit us out, and then this will create the conditions for the end of the war," Stoltenberg said.

What is known about Ukraine's accession to NATO

On July 11-12, 2023, the NATO leaders' summit took place in Vilnius. The meetings were held at the level of heads of state and government. The meetings were attended by the leaders of 31 NATO countries, including US President Joe Biden, and delegations from Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Ukraine, and Sweden were invited. In total, more than 2,400 members of 48 foreign delegations arrived in Vilnius, including up to 40 heads of state and 150 other high-ranking government officials. The summit was also attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On July 11, the NATO summit in Vilnius adopted a package of decisions regarding Ukraine: the Membership Action Plan phase is canceled, and the country will receive an invitation to join the Alliance after it fulfills the requirements for accession and subject to the consent of all allies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was outraged by the existence of "conditions" for Ukraine to receive an invitation to NATO and said that it was similar to "not being ready to invite the country to the Alliance.”

On July 23, 2023, then-Defense Minister Reznikov expressed the opinion that Ukraine could be admitted to NATO in the summer of 2024. At the same time, NATO countries have repeatedly said that Ukraine's accession to the Alliance is impossible until the war with Russia ends.

Recently, the head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Christoph Heusgen, said that the issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO will not be raised at the upcoming NATO summit on July 9-11, 2024. "Ukraine's accession to NATO is not on the agenda of this summit. However, I am convinced that only NATO membership guarantees Ukraine a long-term perspective of peace. Agreements with Russia are not worth the paper on which Putin puts his signature. Ukraine had to learn this bitter lesson. The only guarantee is NATO membership," he emphasized.