Chairman of Ukraine’s parliament arrives in Latvia to seek NATO consensus ahead of Vilnius summit

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk arrived in Latvia to reach an international consensus on Ukraine's path to NATO on the eve of the Alliance's Vilnius summit.

Stefanchuk reported this on Facebook.

"Latvia. These days – on a working visit to Riga. I am glad to meet with a devoted friend of Ukraine, the speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, Edwards Smiltens," Stefanchuk wrote.

According to him, there is no such area in which Latvia would not help Ukraine. Everything that Ukraine needs, Latvia does, and it does it quickly and efficiently. He thanked Latvia for helping Ukraine.

Stefanchuk noted that Latvia has already provided Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and military goods worth more than 388 million euros. As a percentage of national GDP, it is 1.3%.

"The main goal of the meeting is to reach an international consensus on Ukraine's path to NATO on the eve of the Alliance's Vilnius summit," the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament said.

He also hopes that historic decisions will be made in neighboring Lithuania soon for Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic community.

According to him, the parties discussed the defense needs of Ukraine.

"This support today is decisive for achieving victory," he added.

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Ukraine clearly understands that it will be able to join the North Atlantic Alliance only after the end of hostilities. However, the state wants to receive a political decision regarding support for accession at the Alliance summit in Vilnius, which will be held on July 11-12.

Moreover, President Zelensky is sure that Ukraine has every reason to receive a political invitation to join the North Atlantic Alliance at the NATO summit in early July.

The Vilnius municipality will join the initiative to support Ukraine's accession to NATO – at least 33,000 Ukrainian flags will be flown in the Lithuanian capital on July 7-11.

In addition, during a joint briefing with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that at the Alliance summit in Vilnius, the leaders would adopt a package regarding Ukraine containing three main elements. At the same time, he did not disclose the content of NATO's future decision regarding Ukraine's membership.

It should be noted that Portugal became the twenty-third country that concluded a similar declaration with Ukraine. The day before, Bulgaria, which Volodymyr Zelensky visited earlier this week, became the 22nd country.