The invitation to NATO is a signal that will motivate Ukraine to defend Europe, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a meeting with Bulgarian politicians in Sofia on Thursday.

"It is not such a high price to pay for such a war and for such suffering - to motivate Ukraine and help it," the president said. At the same time, according to him, "we understand that we will join NATO in a few years or after the war, as the Alliance members decide."

Zelenskyy noted that the world has never reacted so united to aggression. "Ukraine unites the world. And this suggests that the institutional security infrastructure after this war will be different. And it will depend on the voice of a free state, and not on the territory and the number of weapons located on the territory of this state," he believes.