Ukraine officials have been left confused after learning the country's delegation has not been invited to an upcoming NATO summit amid ongoing Russian aggression targeting the country, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday.
The Alliance could have found an appropriate format to make Ukraine's attendance at the June 14 event in Brussels possible, the top diplomat said, speaking at a joint conference with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid in Kyiv, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
Read alsoNATO defense chiefs call on Ukraine to pursue reform"We understand the desire of the Allies to hold their own summit to discuss Trans-Atlantic unity. There are examples of such summits, including one in Brussels, in 2017. To be honest though, we don't understand at all how a closed-format NATO summit could be held against the background of the aggressive actions by the Russian Federation targeting Ukraine, in the Black Sea region, as well against the Allies, I mean the latest events, the latest outcome of the probe in the Czech Republic [into the ammo depots blasts in Vrbetica in October and December 2014, where Russian special services were involved]," noted Kuleba.
"We can't understand this: how can you not invite Ukraine, how can you not find a format for Ukraine's participation in the current summit?" the minister appealed.
NATO summit: background
- Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected the NATO summit to start discussing the prospects for Ukraine's obtaining a Membership Action Plan.
- Foreign Minister Kuleba opined that the Allies at their June 14 summit will make no decision on granting MAP to Ukraine.
- Olha Stefanishyna, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, expects Ukraine's security concerns to be adequately reflected in the final documents of the upcoming NATO summit.
