NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is on Thursday in his first visit to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion as a sign of support for Ukraine, which is preparing to launch a counteroffensive, Reuters reports. The head of the North Atlantic Alliance drew attention to this will help Kyiv move from Soviet-era equipment and doctrine to NATO standards.

• Zelensky asked Stoltenberg, who is in Kyiv, about the timetable for joining NATO / How divided are the member states regarding Ukraine’s joining NATO

Stoltenberg honored the memory of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war and inspected the damaged Russian military equipment on display in the central square of Kyiv.

The head of NATO got into a car and drove after the event to a meeting with President Zelensky.

The future of Ukraine in NATO, the head of the Western military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, emphasized on Thursday during his first visit to the country since the invasion of Russia 14 months ago.

“Let me say clearly: Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s place of honor in NATO. And over time, our support will help make this possible,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

The head of the North Atlantic Alliance promised that Ukraine will continue to receive military support, noting that to date NATO allies have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and provided military aid worth 65 billion euros in terms of military aid.

“NATO is with you today, tomorrow and as long as you want,” Stoltenberg said before inviting Zelensky to the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

He emphasized that the multi-year support initiative will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrine to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance, calling it “proof of NATO’s long-term commitment to Ukraine.”

“We don’t know when this war will end, but we do know that Russian aggression is a toxic model that must be stopped. Therefore, we must continue to strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And we must make sure that there are strong and robust security mechanisms of Ukraine,” Stoltenberg also said.

This was Stoltenberg’s fourth visit to Ukraine as NATO Secretary General, but the first since the war began almost 14 months ago.

Ukraine is waiting for an invitation to NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that it is time for NATO to make a political decision to invite Ukraine to the military alliance and that Kyiv wants to know when it will become a member.

At a joint conference with the head of NATO in Kyiv, the Ukrainian leader said that the NATO summit to be held in Vilnius in July could become “historic” and that he had been invited to participate.

“I am grateful for the invitation to the summit, but it is also important that Ukraine receives a corresponding invitation for membership,” said the Kyiv leader.

“There is no objective obstacle to a political decision to invite Ukraine to the alliance, and now, when the majority of people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support joining NATO, the time has come for appropriate decisions,” Zelenskyy added.

⚡️ Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv.

The NATO Secretary General was spotted by a Kyiv Independent journalist in the morning of April 20 during the commemoration of fallen Ukrainian soldiers on Mykhailivska Square in the center of Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/QhY515J305

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 20, 2023

During his visit to Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg also visited Bucha, a year after shocking images of civilian corpses strewn on the streets revealed atrocities committed by Russian forces, CNN writes.

The head of NATO said that he was “deeply impressed” by what he saw in Buch. “Today, Russian atrocities against the Ukrainian people continue, and those responsible must be brought to justice,” Stoltenberg said.

NATO supported Ukraine

Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022 killed thousands, displaced millions, destroyed cities and devastated the Ukrainian economy.

NATO supported Ukraine, member states sent weapons, but not military units.

Ukraine sees its future in the NATO alliance and last September announced a request for fast-track membership after the Kremlin said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions that its forces had partially occupied.

Moscow sees NATO as a hostile military alliance that wants to encroach on what it considers its sphere of influence.

Ukraine gained independence from the Russian-led Soviet Union in 1991.

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