Rutte says no NATO discussions on Ukraine invitation

NATO is not discussing Ukraine 's invitation to join the alliance, but only talks about supplying weapons to Kiev. This was stated by the bloc's Secretary General Mark Rutte on December 3 during a press conference before the meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states in Brussels, the broadcast of which was published on YouTube.

"We have an obligation to help Ukraine, and it is in our security interests, so we need to continue to support Kiev," he outlined the primary task, responding to a question from journalists about whether the alliance's foreign ministers intend to invite Kiev to membership.

Rutte added that in this way the alliance would "strengthen Ukraine's position at the negotiating table".

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Earlier, on November 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired in May, said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News that he might agree to a ceasefire and give up some territories in exchange for Ukraine's membership in NATO.

Later, on December 2, it was reported that the meeting of NATO foreign ministers would not reach an agreement on inviting Ukraine to the alliance. In addition, it is noted that Kiev has made it clear to Western countries that it will need "at least $120bn" by 2025. This exceeds the amount previously agreed at the NATO summit in Washington.

In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's membership in NATO is unacceptable for Russia because it is a threatening development. According to him, the security of one country cannot be ensured to the detriment of the security of another state.

Ukraine applied to join NATO on an accelerated basis on September 30, 2022. At the time, Zelenskyy said that in fact the country was already in the alliance and met its standards.