Ukraine will become a member of NATO, but “in the long term”, the NATO Secretary General said on Tuesday in the context of the fact that Kyiv is asking to join the North Atlantic Alliance against the backdrop of the Russian invasion, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“NATO countries agree that Ukraine should become a member of the Alliance, but at the same time this is a long-term perspective,” Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Finland, calling for a “framework” to be built to avoid any new future invasions.

Ukraine’s accession to NATO is an absolute red line for Moscow, which cites the risk of such accession to justify its invasion.

“The current challenge is to make sure that Ukraine remains an independent and sovereign nation, and for that we must support Ukraine,” Jens Stoltenberg told the press.

“President Putin’s war in Ukraine continues, and there are no signs that he is changing his plans. He wants to control Ukraine and is preparing not for peace, but for war,” said the head of the Western military alliance.

“We also need to find personnel who will ensure that President Putin and Russia do not invade Ukraine again,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference held together with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

Finland and Sweden abandoned their historic neutrality last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the two Scandinavian countries’ NATO membership is blocked by Turkey.

At the end of September last year, Ukraine again applied for NATO membership, having initially given up this desire during peace talks with Moscow held in Ankara in March.

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