Stoltenberg: NATO is helping Ukraine meet the criteria for membership

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that NATO is helping Ukraine meet the criteria for membership.

Interfax-Ukraine reported this.

According to him, the decision on membership will be made by the allies and Ukraine, and no one has the right to say anything more about it.

"On membership. We reaffirmed our support for the decision taken at the Bucharest Summit in 2008, and we're helping Ukraine to move towards NATO membership through reforms, meeting NATO standards. We have made it clear that we will never compromise on each European country's right to choose its path. Therefore, it's fundamental that this principle is not violated in any way, which means that it is up to Ukraine and its thirty NATO allies to decide when Ukraine is ready for membership," said the NATO Secretary-General in Brussels before the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

According to him, the alliance will continue to provide political support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as practical assistance.

He also added that Ukraine had the right to defend itself.

Earlier, Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia had no veto on Ukraine's accession to NATO.

As previously stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, the final decision of NATO on Ukraine's accession to the Alliance is influenced by the opinion of several countries, which are primarily thinking about Russia's reaction to this decision.