Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said that 48 hours before the start of the Vilnius summit, there was no mention of an invitation for Ukraine in the text of the communique, and words about a political invitation to NATO did not appear in the statement, because key partners "are afraid of speed."

"I think the reason here is that our key partners, who really determined how far NATO can go in Vilnius, are afraid of speed. That is, they absolutely agree that Ukraine will arrive at its destination and will be a member of NATO. There is no doubt about it. But they have a fear that if one drives too fast, he can get into an accident. And they want to avoid it. They want to get to this point safely," Kuleba said in an interview with ICTV.

To the host's clarifying phrase that the allies could have made a political invitation for Ukraine, which "actually obliges little to anything," Kuleba noted that the Ukrainian side gave various arguments and the discussion lasted for months.

"I want to say that as of Sunday, that is, 48 hours before the start of the summit, there should not have been a single mention of an invitation for Ukraine in the text of the Communique at all. In 48 hours, thanks to very intensive and reasoned communication with partners, primarily with the United States and Germany, we managed to advance them. And they agreed that the word invitation can be in the text or should be in the text. But in the end it appeared there only in the wording that we see," the Foreign Minister said.