Zelensky: Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic course remains unchanged

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic course remains unchanged and sees a window of opportunity at the next NATO summit in Madrid.

He said this at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Thursday, December 16, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Our Euro-Atlantic course remains unchanged, and support [for this course] in Ukrainian society is growing," Zelensky said.

He thanked Stoltenberg "for a clear signal" that the issue of membership in the Alliance is a matter of relations between Ukraine and NATO countries. He expressed hope that NATO nations would continue to pursue these positions "without succumbing to any threats and any red lines that are being drawn by other parties."

"In 1997, at the Madrid Summit, Ukraine and NATO member states signed the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership. This document recorded a high level of partnership between us and a high level of cooperation. Next year marks 25 years since the document was signed, and the NATO summit is taking place in Madrid again. I see here not only symbolism but also a window of opportunity," Zelensky said.

Zelensky is on a working visit to Brussels on December 15-16. On Wednesday, he took part in the sixth summit of the Eastern Partnership.

op