NATO agrees to remove Membership Action Plan requirement for Kyiv’s membership: Ukraine

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine on Monday said that NATO members have agreed to remove the Membership Action Plan (MAP) requirement for Ukraine’s membership to the alliance.

“Following intensive talks, NATO allies have reached a consensus on removing MAP from Ukraine's path to membership. I welcome this long-awaited decision that shortens our path to NATO,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

Kuleba further said that this is also “the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become a member.”

Kuleba previously said on Saturday that Ukraine’s path to NATO membership will become shorter after the upcoming summit of the alliance in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius later this month.

Kuleba further said that the summit in Vilnius is a “unique moment” to bring clarity, adding that losing this opportunity would mean giving Russia “a gift at a time when he (President Vladimir Putin) needs to be pressed on all fronts.”

The MAP is a program giving advice, assistance, and practical support to countries wishing to join NATO, based on the individual needs of each country in question in political, economic, defense, resource, security and legal aspects.

Ukraine officially submitted its application for fast-track NATO membership last September, following Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions. But NATO allies appear divided on the matter, saying that a new member in the middle of a war is not a priority.