Ukraine's future is in NATO, European Union: Czech PM Fiala after meeting Zelenskyy

Ukraine's future is in the European Union and NATO military bloc, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala stated in Prague, on Friday, July 7 after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Prague. Zelenskyy flew to the Czech Republic after concluding his trip to Bulgaria where he met Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, who acknowledged that an independent and sovereign Ukraine "is key for Euro-Atlantic security in the region".

Zelenskyy met Czech President Petr Pavel, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the heads of both parliamentary houses, all of whom supported Ukraine's NATO membership bid and its territorial integrity. Pavel told Zelenskyy that it is in the interest of his country for the war with Russia to end as soon as possible in Kyiv, and the negotiations about its NATO membership begin.

"We don't know when the war [in Ukraine] will end, but what we do know now is that we need to open the door to the European Union, to the North Atlantic Alliance to the brave Ukrainian people," Fiala said at the press conference. 

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy said that he is "convinced that Ukraine will be part of NATO". He added that it would be “ideal” for the Western military bloc's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, to reach a conclusion that Kyiv will become its member. An invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance would be the best result for the NATO summit, Zelenskyy said and asserted that Kyiv needs more from the alliance than just statements about its "open door" policy. He went on to state that he plans to start EU accession talks as soon as possible.

The Ukrainian President is on tour to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and will head to Turkey to garner support for his country's entry into NATO ahead of the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania next week. In Prague, he pushed for more military assistance as Ukrainian forces press forward their counteroffensive against Russian forces to reclaim the captured territories.

He focused on defence support, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and the Vilnius NATO Summit, the situation around the ZNPP, the implementation of the Peace Formula, as well as the rebuilding of Ukraine, according to his tweets.