Ukraine's NATO membership commitment must be reiterated in The Hague - Lithuanian FM

VILNIUS - The commitment that Ukraine will become a member of NATO in the future must be reiterated at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says,

"During our meeting today in Kyiv, we are also talking about what we should and could do in preparation for the NATO summit in The Hague. And one of the objectives is to pay really appropriate attention to what is the most important issue in Europe today, which is Ukraine," the foreign minister, who in Kyiv right now, said in a video comment on Monday.

"The least we must do is to reiterate the commitment to have Ukraine in NATO in the future, and also to agree on additional support for Ukraine, which is so much needed, because we don't see any signs so far that Putin is reducing the number of attacks or is slowing down and at least showing something that promises a coming ceasefire," he said.

These elements will be as important as reaching an agreement on additional defense funding, Budrys said.

Ukraine has been invited to attend the Hague summit on June 24-25. It will focus on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's calls on allied members to increase defense spending.

Ukraine applied to join NATO in September 2022, a few months after the start of Russia's large-scale invasion. The country has not received a formal invitation as the 32 NATO member countries are struggling to reach a consensus on the issue.

Budrys says important decisions will also be made within the EU format late this month: "June will be intense in terms of EU processes as well because we will certainly have to make final decisions on whether we open the first negotiating chapters for Ukraine in this half of the year or not".

Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status in June 2022.

Last year, all 27 EU members gave Kyiv the green light to open accession talks, but the process has stalled because Hungary is blocking it, demanding guarantees for the rights of Ukraine's Hungarian-speaking minority.