NATO plans to step up assistance to Ukraine at Vilnius summit

NATO member states will agree to step up aid to Ukraine at the upcoming summit in Vilnius in July, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He made the remarks at the Bucharest Nine summit in Bratislava, TASS reports.

"The decisions we will take at the summit in Vilnius will be significant. We will strengthen assistance to Ukraine with a multilateral package that will move Ukraine's forces to NATO standards and bring Ukraine closer to NATO," he said.

According to Stoltenberg, the alliance will also decide on strengthening defence capabilities.

NATO summit to be held in the Lithuanian capital on July 11-12.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the lack of decisions in favour of Ukraine at the summit in Vilnius would be a defeat for NATO.

During a joint press conference with the head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry Margus Tsahkna, Kuleba also stated that the Membership Action Plan (MAP) should not hinder Ukraine on its way to joining NATO since this mechanism "has become obsolete”.

The foreign minister noted that, according to the Ukrainian authorities, Ukraine had every right "to fight for Euro-Atlantic security" without being a member of the alliance.

According to the minister, Kyiv understands that it cannot dictate decisions to NATO.