Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that the results of the NATO summit were good, but it would be ideal if Kyiv received an invitation to join the Western military alliance, Reuters reports.

Zelenskyi noted that NATO’s recognition that Ukraine does not need to comply with the Accession Action Plan (AAP) is important, indicating that the former Soviet state has made significant progress in its compatibility with the North Atlantic Alliance.

“An important result here is the recognition of the fact that Ukraine does not need an Action Plan for accession,” Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, reports news.ro.

Zelenskyi emphasized that the Ukrainian military gained experience of cooperation with various member countries of the alliance.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by Kyiv’s Western partners. Ukraine is also heavily dependent on Western arms supplies as it battles Russian forces that launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine will join NATO, but without an exact schedule

NATO said on Tuesday that Ukraine would be welcomed into the alliance, but did not specify a date or exact terms. On the other hand, he refused Ukraine’s implementation of the MAP, a list of political, economic and military goals that other Eastern European countries had to fulfill before joining the alliance.

This actually removed the obstacle for Ukraine to join NATO, as NATO head Jens Stoltenberg noted on Tuesday.

Zelenskyi said he received good news about the new defense packages after a meeting in Vilnius with the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia and the Netherlands.

“You can say that the results of the summit are good, but if there was an invitation, it would be ideal,” he said.

“We would like this summit to be successful for everyone – for our soldiers, for our citizens, for our children, for everyone,” he added.

Additional aid to Ukraine

Ukraine’s bid to join NATO dominated discussions at this week’s Vilnius summit, where G7 leaders are also expected to offer Kyiv additional military aid.

“Today, these guarantees can be confirmed by the G7 countries,” Zelensky said, stressing that “this will certainly be a very important and concrete success.”

Answering a question about the US decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, Zelensky thanked US President Joe Biden.

“I know there is a challenge in the United States, there is a challenge in the US Congress, and there are people who do not share support for cluster munitions. But I want us to look at it from a different perspective, from the perspective of justice,” Zelensky said.

He again emphasized that Kyiv needs long-range weapons, and said he would raise “this issue.”

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