NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is convinced that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance, and only the allies will decide what path this will take, and Moscow has no veto or influence on this discussion.

The NATO Secretary General said this on Wednesday in Brussels at a press conference, answering a question from journalists about whether he intends to put Ukraine's application for membership in the alliance, which was submitted to headquarters last autumn, on the agenda.

"We want to continue to support Ukraine in the long term. Russia has to understand this that we will not leave Ukraine alone. It is my firm belief that one day Ukraine will be a member of NATO, and I will applaud when that day comes. It is also very clear that Russia has no veto, they cannot influence that discussion. And obviously it is up to the allies to discuss amongst themselves how to move this forward [Ukraine's application for membership]", Rutte said.

According to him, all the work that the allies are doing with Ukraine and is aimed at improving Ukraine's interoperability with NATO – "and not only money, but also training, the other programs we are running currently with Ukraine, and of course the individual commitments that the allies have made in terms of security agreements with Ukraine – this all is basically making sure that Ukraine is ready when the day comes when membership is possible". "But I cannot say now exactly what this path will be, but I am absolutely confident that in the future Ukraine will join us," the NATO Secretary General said.