Ukraine Can’t Wait Another 75 Years to Join NATO, Says Chief Diplomat

Ukraine cannot wait another 75 years to celebrate its membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Ukrinform reports.

“We will be entirely happy only when Ukraine becomes a member of NATO and the promise of this is fulfilled,” Kuleba said. “We heard very reassuring messages over the last days at all levels that the path to membership is ‘irreversible’, that Ukraine will be in NATO. But, you know, we cannot wait another 75 years to celebrate Ukraine’s accession.”.

Kuleba added that Ukraine should become a NATO member “sooner rather than later” because it is the only way to ensure strategic security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.

“This is why we will keep working on ensuring speedy accession of Ukraine to NATO,” said Kuleba. “And the commitments which were made and the pledges which were made at NATO to deliver specific types of equipment – we are confident that they will be implemented.

“The issue of course is the timeline, and we ask all our partners to rush with delivery of what they have promised because we need it here and now to protect our cities when it comes to air defense, our energy infrastructure, but also to arm our soldiers with sufficient capabilities to hold the lines and destroy the Russian invaders,” the minister said.

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