President’s Office: Ukraine needs security guarantees even before joining NATO

"Even before Ukraine joins NATO, we need guarantees of our state's security to quickly cope with Russian aggression and to make it impossible for Russian aggression to recur after our victory in the future," Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said during the nationwide telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

When asked whether Ukraine can do without the MAP stage to get membership in the Alliance, the Deputy Head of the President's Office said that it was certainly possible.

"Currently, we see that Sweden and Finland are moving towards NATO without the MAP instrument. Ukraine is closely following this process and has seen that although it was said that it was impossible [to join NATO] without the MAP, it turned out that it is possible. Ukraine takes these realities into account and noted when submitting the application on Friday that two countries were moving without MAP," Zhovkva said.

He noted that Ukraine could follow the same path towards NATO as Sweden and Finland.

The Deputy Head of the President's Office added that Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly reacted positively to Ukraine's application to join NATO and called it an "absolutely normal step" that Canada was ready to support.

"We also saw the statement of the three foreign ministers of the Baltic States who also supported the fast-track procedure. We saw statements from other partners as well. After the application was submitted, the President of Ukraine spoke, for example, with the Prime Minister of Denmark, and this issue was also discussed. Today there was a conversation with the President of France. Therefore, the process will continue," the official clarified.

As reported, on September 30, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed an application requesting an accelerated accession to join NATO.

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