The issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO cannot be on the agenda of the NATO summit in July, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary said on his Facebook page on Thursday, Reuters reports.

“We have to understand this clearly: NATO membership of a country that is currently at war cannot be on the agenda,” said Peter Sijarto, adding that no timetables for Ukraine should be discussed.

Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz said the other day that the NATO summit planned for July in Vilnius will be devoted “especially” to supporting Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi insisted on Thursday that Ukraine should be part of the NATO military alliance as he joined European leaders on Thursday in Moldova, near his country’s border, ahead of an expected counteroffensive against the Russian invasion.

Disagreements are brewing in NATO regarding the accelerated accession of Ukraine as a decisive summit

Addressing the leaders at the beginning of the meeting, Zelensky asked NATO members to make a clear decision on Ukraine’s accession.

“A clear invitation from the members of Ukraine and necessary security guarantees on the way to NATO membership are needed at the NATO summit in Vilnius this summer.”

He spoke amid disagreements among NATO members over the speed of Ukraine’s accession, with some fearing that a hasty move could bring the alliance closer to a direct confrontation with Russia.

The leaders of the 27 EU member states and 20 other European states, who met in the center of Moldova, used the event as a symbolic show of support for Ukraine and Moldova, and discussed other issues, including rising ethnic tensions in Kosovo and efforts for lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. .

The summit, which was guarded by NATO jets, posed a security and organizational challenge for Moldova, a former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people that is seeking a path to EU membership while wary of Russia. Moldova has closed its airspace, except for the delegation’s official planes.

On May 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance were divided on the issue of Ukraine joining the Western military bloc, which will be on the agenda of the July summit in Vilnius (Lithuania).

While Kyiv and its closest allies in Eastern Europe have called for concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to membership, Western governments such as the United States and Germany are wary of any moves that could bring the alliance closer to war with Russia.

Moscow cannot prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO

Today, June 1, the head of the alliance said that Moscow cannot prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO.

“All allies agree that Moscow does not have a veto over NATO expansion,” Stoltenberg told reporters at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, seeking to dispel any signs of disagreement ahead of the summit.

“We are moving, the allies agree that Ukraine will become a member.”

NATO Secretary General stated on June 1 that the security of Ukraine must be guaranteed after the end of the war, but NATO allies still have to work out the details of how to arrange it.

“When the war is over, we must make sure that we have a framework to ensure that there is no pause in Russia’s actions against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said after an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo.

“We must stop the vicious circle of aggression against Ukraine. The details of how this can be done have yet to be decided.”