“I said in Kiev yesterday [on Thursday] that Ukraine’s future is in Euro Atlantic family and all NATO allies have agreed that that Ukraine will become a NATO member,” Stoltenberg said ahead of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The NATO chief also said that the alliance’s allies have been discussing a delivery of different types of aircraft to Ukraine.
“On jets, well, allies have delivered, Poland has delivered MiG-29s. There’s an ongoing discussion about also other types of jets,” Stoltenberg added.
On Thursday, Stoltenberg said during a visit to Kiev that allies were committed to delivering more jets, tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine. He estimated that NATO’s military aid to Ukraine had topped $165 billion since February 2022.
During the visit, Stoltenberg reiterated that Ukraine’s place was in NATO but gave no timeline for its accession. He said this would be made possible “over time” and assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the alliance was with Ukraine for the long haul to help it transition to NATO standards and ensure its full interoperability with allies.
In September, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine was applying to join NATO in a fast-track manner. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was closely monitoring the situation and recalled that Kiev’s orientation towards the alliance became one of the reasons for the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
Source: newsghana.com.gh