Kyiv is ready to increase national contributions to NATO-led operations and send additional forces to work in the structures of the Alliance in order to achieve full-fledged member status in the future, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran has said.

"We are ready to increase the national contribution to NATO-led operations, to send additional military and civilian personnel to work in the structures of the Alliance, to start implementing practical measures to establish exchange of information in real time using automated systems," the minister said on Saturday, December 5.

According to Taran, the designated steps "should make us stronger and significantly bring us closer to the strategic goal, full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization."

The minister said Kyiv expects to receive the NATO Membership Action Plan and hopes for political support from NATO allies regarding such a decision at the 2021 regular Alliance summit. Taran said that he noted this during a meeting with the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the military attachés of the member states accredited in Ukraine.

"There is no deviation from the course; on the contrary, we are doubling our efforts on the path of the Euro-Atlantic integration," the minister said.