Meeting of the President of Poland with the President of Ukraine
President Andrzej Duda has said that Ukraine’s security can be guaranteed only by the North Atlantic Alliance.
At a joint press conference following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Andrzej Duda said that the main topics discussed during the meeting was Ukraine's accession to the European Union and NATO.
He spoke about the successful granting of the status of a candidate state to join the EU at the start of the Russian aggression against it in 2022, saying: „I hope that today, as soon as possible, all these steps related to Ukraine’s full accession to the EU that still remain can be achieved.
„However,” he added, „from Ukraine’s point of view, the matter of utmost importance is the guarantee of security, which essentially can only be granted by the countries in the North Atlantic Alliance.
„The strongest guarantee of security for Ukraine would be NATO membership, that is, related to Article 5, and I believe it will serve this role in the near future,” he said.
According to him, full admission of Ukraine to NATO „would probably be possible only after the war has ended,” but at the same time, he expressed the opinion that NATO member states should issue a formal invitation to Ukraine, as „a first formal step related to the future admission... as well as to the provision of real guarantees of security.”
„Today, as a president of the Republic of Poland, as Ukraine’s neighbour, also as someone, who has been invested in helping Ukraine from the very beginning, when Russia initially invaded Ukraine, I am explicitly in favour of the members of NATO sending Ukraine an invitation to the North Atlantic Alliance,” Andrzej Duda said.
He also added that the number of countries in favour of issuing such an invitation is growing.
Andrzej Duda will meet Zelensky again next week in Davos, Switzerland, for the opening of Ukraine House, a series of panels aimed at discussing Ukraine’s situation in the midst of the Russian aggression.(PAP)