German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rejected a quick decision on Ukraine joining NATO, the Western alliance that supports Ukraine in its war with Russia, whose member countries supply it with weapons, Reuters reports.

Kyiv wants the North Atlantic Military Alliance to offer it membership.

“The door is open, but now is not the time to decide,” Pistorius said on Thursday evening during the ZDF program hosted by journalist Maybrit Illner, adding that Ukraine is aware of the situation in the decision-making process on this issue.

Pistorius noted that the decision regarding Ukraine’s accession to the alliance cannot be made only out of solidarity, but “with a cool head and a warm heart. It is not the other way around.”

At the fourth meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine at the American Ramstein Air Base in southern Germany on Friday, Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO or the European Union will not be discussed, the minister added.

The German Defense Minister’s statements were made after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s first visit to Ukraine after the Russian invasion. Stoltenberg invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the NATO summit to be held in Vilnius in July. The priority of the summit’s agenda will be accession to NATO and reliable security guarantees for Ukraine, said the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance. (Agerpress)