Nine European countries approve Ukraine's accession to NATO

The website of Polish President Andrzej Duda, cited by RBC, published a statement by the leaders of nine countries supporting Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance. In addition to the Polish leader, the document is signed by the President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman, Estonia Alar Karis, Latvia Egils Levits, Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski, Montenegro Milo Djukanovic , Romania Klaus Iohannise and Slovakia Zuzan Chaputov. "We strongly support the decision of the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest regarding Ukraine's future membership in the alliance", - the statement underlines.

European leaders also noted that their countries support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and will never recognize "Russia's attempts to annex any Ukrainian territories".

As it became known, Canada and Germany also spoke out orally in favor of accepting Ukraine as a member of NATO. However, the United States does not yet have a final decision. Washington, according to TASS, is committed to NATO's "open door" policy, but emphasizes that the decision to admit new members to the alliance should be made by all countries of the bloc. This was stated on Saturday by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, commenting on Kiev's application to join the alliance on an accelerated basis.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelensky on September 30 signed an application for the country's accession to NATO on an accelerated basis.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did not answer a direct question from journalists about whether the alliance is ready to consider this application.