Zelenskyy to attend NATO Summit 2022 in June, confirms alliance's deputy secy Mircea Joane

In a key development, embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit taking place in Spain's Madrid in June, confirmed alliance’s Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Joane. The NATO administrator also said in an official statement that the forthcoming summit would have in attendance the alliance’s partners from the Pacific, for the first time. These members include  Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. 

Joane said, “Of course, NATO enlargement, and open-door policy will be an important topic of discussion. We hope that Finland and Sweden will join our ranks. And, of course, we must decide on Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky will be present at our summit in one way or another. in Madrid”.

The Madrid Summit 2022 will be attended by Heads of State and Government from NATO's 30 member countries and key partners. As per reports, it is likely that Japanese Prime MInsiter Fumio Kishida would be the country’s first leader to attend the alliance’s summit.

NATO Deputy Secretary’s confirmation of Zelenskyy attending the Madrid summit was made during a discussion organised by Politico. It also came just hours after Europa Press, citing sources in the Spanish government, stated that Spain planned to send a formal invitation to Zelenksyy for the summit in Madrid on June 29 and June 30. However, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had said that he does not expect positive decisions for Ukraine at the meeting. 

It is pertinent to note that NATO has been facing increased calls from Ukraine for more assistance as Kyiv’s forces continue to resist the Russian army for 107 days now. Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 announced the 'special' military operation in Ukraine and what followed was full-scale army aggression and bombing of residential areas. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, nearly 14 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, according to the United Nations (UN). 

Russia had repeatedly condemned Ukraine’s prospects of joining the US-ed military alliance in the run-up to the war. Kremlin had cited its own security concerns over NATO expanding more in Europe and earlier this year, the tensions regarding the alliance’s membership had prompted Moscow to ramp up its forces on the border with Ukraine.  

NATO membership would have prevented war: Zelenskyy

Earlier last month, Zelenskyy had said that the war with Russia would have been prevented if his country had been a member of NATO beforehand. While speaking at French University Sciences Po, the Ukrainian President said, “If Ukraine had been part of Nato before the war, there would have been no war”. 

Image: AP