Agreement reached on Ukraine’s NATO membership and conversation underway to supply diverse aircraft

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine, which will begin today, Friday, at the Ramstein airbase in Germany, will discuss the provision of various types of aircraft to Kiev.

This is stated in a statement made by Stoltenberg on Friday morning upon arrival at a meeting in which representatives of about 50 countries participate.

He said: “As for the aircraft, some NATO countries – Poland and Slovakia – have supplied Kiev with a certain number of MiG-29 aircraft, and there is a discussion on providing other types of aircraft, and this will be discussed at the meeting today.”

“All NATO allies agree that Ukraine should become a member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg said during his visit to Kyiv on Thursday that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO,” adding that “over time, our support will help you make this possible.”

During the visit, Stoltenberg said the Ramstein meeting would focus on delivering more weapons to Ukraine, while highlighting the importance of providing more ammunition and improved maintenance to support Kyiv.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested NATO assistance to “lift the reservation” of some member states to provide long-range missiles, advanced combat aircraft and armored vehicles.

Zelensky also considered at a press conference with Stoltenberg that “the time has come to make an appropriate decision” on Ukraine’s membership in NATO, and added that the July NATO summit “may become historic” if Ukraine receives an official invitation to join.

Commenting on Stoltenberg’s visit to Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the possible entry of Ukraine into NATO “poses a serious threat to the security of Russia” and that preventing such a development of events is one of the goals of the Russian special military operation.

Source: agencies

Related Stories

Leave a Reply