Zelenskyy at European Political Community summit: Ukraine needs invitations to NATO, EU this year
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine needs invitations to NATO and the EU this year, as well as security guarantees on the way to NATO.
In the summer in Vilnius, at the NATO summit Ukraine needs a clear invitation for membership, the country needs security guarantees on the way to NATO membership. In the autumn, Ukraine needs a clear positive decision on its accession to the EU, he said on Thursday, speaking at the European Political Community summit in Chisinau.
Positive decisions for Ukraine, the president said, will be positive decisions for everyone. Regarding the basis of security, obviously, for Moldova, and in the long term for Georgia, Zelenskyy said. He said that he has no doubt that over time it could be for Belarus as well.
According to him, Russia is afraid of NATO and is trying to absorb only those who are outside the common security space. Russia is trying to leave the frozen war on the territory of its neighbors, if it does not swallow the entire neighboring country.
He took the presence of the Russian contingent still in Transnistria as an example. The Kremlin only needs this to unfreeze the attack on Moldova one day, he said. The Ukrainian President asked how long Europe would tolerate this, and this question is already over 30 years old, the president said. He said that it's worth answering, as on this continent there should be no place for either "frozen" or hot war.
Every European country that borders Russia and that does not want Russia to tear it apart should be a full member of the EU and NATO, and there are only two alternatives to this – either open war or creeping Russian occupation, he said.
Zelenskyy said that everyone sees what is happening in Belarus, everyone sees what is happening in Georgia, and everyone sees how these nations are involved, albeit in different ways, in the same state of lawlessness. Even if the Ukrainians, who prove with blood their commitment to freedom and the values of a united Europe, have not yet heard a clear positive answer about joining the EU and NATO, the hopes of others become completely elusive, the president said.
He asked to think of this disappointment – the disappointment of both Ukrainian soldiers who fight for freedom and those nations for whom the struggle in Ukraine is their hope. This year is the year for decisions, Zelenskyy said.
