Olha Stefanishyna discussed support for Ukraine with ambassadors of NATO member states
On November 3, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna met with a group of permanent representatives of NATO member states who had come to visit Ukraine.
The parties discussed the priority needs of Ukraine as well as Ukraine’s application for NATO membership. Special attention was paid to the planning of assistance to Ukraine, in particular through the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, as well as its financing through the NATO Trust Fund.
“I am glad to finally welcome you in Kyiv. The preparations took some time but our team exerted every effort to make this important visit happen. We are grateful to our allies for their unwavering support of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, much attention has been paid to bilateral military and non-military cooperation. Today it is time to talk about more systematic planning for the long term and the role NATO can play in coordinating such efforts. It is important to understand how we can use the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine,” Olha Stefanishyna said.
During the discussion, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the seven political criteria from the European Commission, which Ukraine has to fulfill in order to start negotiations on EU membership, in particular regarding the rule of law, also correspond to the reforms required by NATO.
“The policy of strategic uncertainty towards russia has exhausted itself. It is important that the Alliance continues to support the open door policy,” the Deputy Prime Minister said and noted that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would help deter the aggressor from war in the future.
Olha Stefanishyna and the permanent representatives of the member states to NATO focused on the security guarantees for Ukraine in the framework of the Kyiv Security Compact. The Deputy Prime Minister stressed the importance of progress on this issue. According to her, Ukraine needs military planning for years ahead, which will also require appropriate planning from the allies. She also emphasized on the continuation of military assistance.
During the visit, the group also visited Bucha and Hostomel to see with their own eyes the results of russian war crimes.
Representatives of ten foreign countries visited Ukraine: Permanent Representative of Albania to NATO Visho Ajazi Lika, Chargé d’affaires a.i., Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to NATO Zlatin Krastev, Permanent Representative of Estonia to NATO Jüri Luik, Permanent Representative of Latvia to NATO Edgars Skuja, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to NATO Deividas Matulionis, Permanent Representative of Poland to NATO Tomasz Szatkowski, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to NATO Peter Bátor, Permanent Representative of North Macedonia to NATO Dane Taleski, Permanent Representative of Romania to NATO Dănuţ Sebastian Neculăescu, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to NATO Jakub Landovský.