NATO’s chief avoids talk of Ukraine’s membership

Agency :

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership of the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.
Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage” of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor, reports UNB.
“The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,” Rutte said. “So we have to make sure that Ukraine gets into a position of strength, and then it should be for the Ukrainian government to decide on the next steps, in terms of opening peace talks and how to conduct them.”
At their summit in Washington in July, leaders of the 32 NATO member countries insisted that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership.