Media: Ukraine is asking for an invitation to NATO as early as next week

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiga appealed to NATO regarding the accession of Ukraine, photo by RBC-Ukraine

Ukraine is asking NATO to extend an invitation to join the military alliance as early as next week. This is stated in the corresponding letter, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha, sent to NATO allies on the eve of the meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member countries, which will take place on December 3-4 in Brussels.

This was reported by the Reuters publication, which read Andrii Sybiha's letter.

As the newspaper writes, Ukraine says it recognizes that it cannot join NATO until the war is over, but extending an invitation now «would demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin that one of his main goals is to prevent Kyiv from becoming a NATO member.» was not achieved».

«NATO declares that Ukraine will join the alliance and that it is on an «irreversible» path to membership. But an official invitation was not sent and no time frame was set. NATO diplomats say that there is no consensus among alliance members on inviting Ukraine at this stage. Any such decision would require the consent of all 32 NATO member states,» writes Reuters.

At the same time, according to the publication, Andrii Sybiha in his letter, written in English, claimed that now is the time to issue an invitation.

«We believe that the invitation should be given at this stage. This will be an adequate response of the Allies to the constant escalation of the war unleashed by Russia, the latest manifestation of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons. I call on you to support the decision to invite Ukraine to the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministers' Meeting on December 3-4, 2024,» Reuters quoted the letter of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine as saying.

Before that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the latest statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin about possible strikes by new Oreshnik missiles on «decision-making centers in Kyiv.»

More than 80% of Ukrainians would participate in a referendum on joining the EU and NATO, if one were to take place in the near future. Of them, 88% voted for joining the EU, and 86% would support joining NATO.