Speaking at the opening of a meeting of allied foreign ministers in Oslo on Thursday, Stoltenberg said: "All allies agree that Moscow does not have a veto against NATO enlargement."
'Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member'
"We are moving, allies agree that Ukraine will become a member," he told reporters as NATO foreign ministers gathered for informal talks in the Norwegian capital ahead of a July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Stoltenberg added that “it’s not for Moscow to have a veto against NATO enlargement.”
He further stated: “Most importantly, all allies agree that the most urgent and important task now is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation ... We need to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself, that this pattern of Russian aggression against Ukraine really stops. And therefore, we need to have in place frameworks to provide guarantees for Ukrainian security after the end of the war.”
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said in Oslo on Thursday that "the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius should be a demonstration of the alliance's strength and its full readiness to defend each member state," according to the Polish foreign ministry.
NATO agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would eventually join the alliance, but leaders have so far stopped short of taking steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan, the Reuters news agency reported.
At the Vilnius summit, NATO leaders are expected to send a strong message of support to Ukraine, according to officials.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 463 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, nato.int