UPDATE - NATO to assess long-term military assistance programs for Ukraine

ADDS STATEMENT BY UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - NATO foreign ministers will assess ways to support the transformation of the Ukrainian army, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

Stoltenberg was speaking at a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ahead of their bilateral meeting.

Kuleba will later meet NATO foreign ministers at the reunion of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

Stoltenberg said the NATO ministers will discuss “how to sustain and further step up the urgent support for Ukraine.”

They will also see how the alliance “can develop more long-term programs” to ensure that Ukraine moves “closer to the Atlantic family, to our alliance with more interoperability, transition to NATO doctrines, equipment standards,” he further said.

For his part, Kuleba said Ukraine's NATO membership will be the “best way” to guarantee the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic space, according to a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

"Ukraine and NATO need each other. There is no better solution for guaranteeing the strategic security of the Euro-Atlantic space than Ukraine's full membership in the alliance," Kuleba was quoted as saying.

Kuleba congratulated Stoltenberg on the 74th anniversary of the founding of the NATO treaty, while also thanking him for convening the Ukraine-NATO Commission, the statement said.

"The holding of the Ukraine-NATO Commission is not only a symbolic, but also an important event from a political and practical point of view. The main goal of today's negotiations is to speed up the delivery of military aid, which has already been promised to Ukraine, primarily artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, and everything that Ukraine needs for a successful counteroffensive," Kuleba further said, the statement quoted.

The statement also noted that Kuleba said they will discuss plans to ensure stable support for Ukraine from NATO member states, adding that he also congratulated Finland on joining NATO and that Kyiv has a similar objective.

"One of the main topics of the negotiations today will be Ukraine's membership in NATO. Today we all welcome Finland's entry, which sends a clear signal: it is time to rethink old strategies and beliefs. There is no better solution for ensuring Euro-Atlantic security as a whole than Ukraine's membership in the Alliance," Kuleba noted.

* Burc Eruygur in Istanbul contributed to this story.