NATO chief says Ukraine to become member in 'long term'

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine will become a member of the military alliance in the "long term," saying the allies will continue to support Kiev in the war with Russia.

"NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time, that is a long-term perspective," Stoltenberg said during a visit to Finland's capital, Helsinki, on Tuesday.

"The issue now is that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation, and therefore we need to support Ukraine," he added.

When the war ends, "we need to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself," Stoltenberg stressed.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who was at the press conference with Stoltenberg, said, "I see that the future of Ukraine is to be part of the European Union and also a member of NATO."

Since the war began in Ukraine one year ago, NATO allies have provided billions of dollars in military aid to Kiev, despite warnings from Russia that the move would prolong the conflict.

After the start of the conflict, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to grant his country fast-track membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has on several occasions cited the post-Soviet expansion of the NATO alliance eastward, toward Russia's borders, as a reason for the military offensive he declared against Ukraine last year. Key to a list of Russian demands from the West prior to the offensive was a guarantee that Kiev never join NATO.

Sweden and Finland, which has one of Europe's longest borders with Russia, dropped their decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO in May of 2022.

Stoltenberg said that "both Finland and Sweden have delivered on what they promised in the trilateral agreement they made with Turkey last June in Madrid."

"The time is now to ratify and to fully welcome Finland and Sweden as members," he said. "It's inconceivable that there will be any threat against Finland or Sweden without NATO reacting."

The two countries have the backing of all but two of NATO's 30 members, the holdouts being Hungary and particularly Turkey.

Finland on Tuesday kicked off a parliamentary session to debate the bid. A vote is expected by Wednesday, and having the bill passed will mean that Finland can act swiftly even if the ratifications come in before a new government has been formed. The initial membership bid last year was supported by 188 of the 200 members in parliament.

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