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Photo NATO
In his first foreign trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reaffirmed that Ukraine will continue its path toward European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
“The strategic course of Ukraine in order to obtain full membership in NATO, which is written in the Constitution of Ukraine, remains unchanged, this is a priority of our foreign policy,” Zelensky said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
“Ukraine is a partner we highly appreciate,” Stoltenberg said. “After all, your country actively participates in NATO missions and exercises, says it intends to become part of the Alliance. Issuing Russian passports in Donbas is the last attempt by the Russian Federation to destabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine.”
Additionally, Stoltenberg called on Russia to return the Ukrainian sailors that it took captive and the three naval vessels that it captured last November at the Kerch Strait. The ships had been headed for Mariupol, traveling from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov when Russian naval forces stationed at Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, attacked the ships.
In July, joint military exercises between NATO and Ukraine will occur in the Black Sea, where NATO has increased its presence with more ships and airplanes, Stoltenberg said.
Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia, ready to follow the terms of the Minsk agreements, but also needs to be able to defend itself and become stronger in economic, political, and military terms.
Zelensky has also said that Ukraine will not cede any territory or sovereignty to the Russian Federation.
Zelensky’s meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was in a similar vein, with Zelensky promising that Ukraine will continue moving toward European integration. He thanked the European Union for its role in helping to deter Russian aggression.
In his turn, Juncker assured that the EU fully supports Ukraine in its European integration choice and its path of democratic and market transformations.
Meanwhile, Zelensky and Juncker expressed interest in holding the 21st Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on July 8 of this year.
Photo AP
Zelesnkyi was also to meet with European Council President Donald Tusk and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
