At the NATO summit in Vilnius, a step will be taken towards Ukraine's membership in the Alliance, and today this problem has been solved, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

“From what I understand about the Vilnius summit, we are now at a stage where our expectations have already been partially met, let's say. But I will say metaphorically: when we started talking with our partners about the Vilnius summit, we insisted that they take a step towards Ukraine's membership in NATO in Vilnius. Today this problem has been solved. The step will be taken. The question is, how long will it be, how wide will they put their foot? And this is an achievement in itself,” Kuleba said in an interview with Suspilne, which was broadcast on the United News (Yedyni Novyny) telethon on Thursday.

The Foreign Minister stressed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has an unshakable position on this issue: Ukraine's membership in NATO is the only way to prevent new wars in Europe.

“And this is really true,” Kuleba added.

He also stressed that “if before the full-scale war Ukraine needed NATO more to defend and strengthen itself, now NATO needs Ukraine.”

“A state that is independently capable of defending the eastern flank of NATO, and now the name of this state is Ukraine, is a super asset for the Alliance. Now the partners who are against our membership think through the logic of the burden, as they said before the war,” Kuleba said.