Ukraine's NATO membership is not on table now – Borrell

He said this in an interview with the Spanish TV channel laSexta.

Josep Borrell said that Ukraine has long been planning and aspiring to join the North Atlantic Alliance.

"The issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO is not on the table, it was not before either," he said.

The head of European diplomacy noted that the decision on Ukraine's membership in the Alliance does not depend on the NATO Secretary General. This decision will be made by all its members.

He also commented on Finland's accession to NATO and Sweden's intention to join the Alliance. He stated that these countries had remained neutral until Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"These were neutral countries that wanted nothing to do with NATO. But when they saw that Russia was invading Ukraine, they said that the only way to guarantee our security was to become a member of the Alliance and asked us to join immediately," Borrell explained.

• On April 24, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said that specific mechanisms should be found to allow Ukraine to quickly integrate into NATO.

• On April 27, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that at the NATO summit in July in Vilnius, Ukraine expects to hear when it can become a member of the Alliance.

• On May 9, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Washington Post that every country in the Alliance supports Ukraine's accession to NATO, but it is difficult to give an exact timeline.