Stoltenberg: it is important to help Ukraine to ensure that it is ready for immediate membership when political conditions are in place

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that it is important to assist Ukraine to ensure its readiness for immediate membership when political conditions allow, while considering strengthening NATO's role in providing sustainable long-term support. He said this during a speech at a session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on Monday, UNN reports.

On NATO membership. The allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member. But we do not have a consensus on when exactly that would be. In the meantime, I think the important thing is that we put Ukraine a help to ensure that Ukraine will be in a place where, that when the political conditions are in place, Ukraine can become a member immediately

The Secretary General also touched upon the topic of NATO's greater role in supporting Ukraine.

"If we have a more coherent financial commitment and a bigger role for NATO, I think we would have more accountability, more transparency in what the allies are actually providing to ensure that the burden is shared fairly, and with a fair burden sharing, I think it would be easier to continue this support over time. Nobody can say exactly how long this war will last, but we need to be prepared for a long period of time and to do that we need institutions, mechanisms, including long-term financial commitments and a stronger NATO role to make sure that we can sustain this for a long time," Stoltenberg said.

Previously

NATO Allies agreed to begin planning for long-term military support to Ukraine. The NATO Secretary General's position will give the Alliance a more direct role in coordinating the supply of weapons, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine.

According to the diplomats, under these plans, NATO will take over some of the coordination functions of the US-led Ramstein group.