Kyiv Independent reports:
“NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on April 29 for a previously unannounced visit.
Stoltenberg’s third visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion...
...During a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky said that the two also discussed an initiative to set up a special fund for financial support for Ukrainian defense worth 100 billion euros ($107.1 billion) for a period of five years...
...Stoltenberg invited Zelensky to join NATO’s July summit in Washington, although U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said in February she did not expect the alliance to offer Ukraine a membership invitation.
“Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO. Ukraine will become a member of NATO. The work we are undertaking now puts you on an irreversible path towards NATO membership, so that when the time is right, Ukraine can become a NATO member straightaway,” Stoltenberg said.”
This must be very upsetting news for the trolls and the MTG isolationist crowd. Will they form mobs and take over bridges, highways, and college campi?
Defeating Putin’s strategy to “wait out” Western support to Ukraine.
Ten year bilateral support agreements getting signed with Ukraine (9 so far), and the big agreement with the USA is anticipated in the next month or two.
ISW (29 April):
“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated during an unexpected visit to Kyiv on April 29 that Ukraine’s Western allies must provide long-term, predictable military assistance to Ukraine and signal to the Kremlin that Russia cannot “wait out” Western support for Ukraine...
...Stoltenberg stated that he expects Ukraine’s Western allies to soon announce additional unspecified military assistance commitments and stressed that NATO member states need to make “major,” multi-year financial commitments to support Ukraine and emphasize to Moscow that Russia cannot win by “wait[ing] out” Western support for Ukraine.
Zelensky noted during the press conference that NATO and Ukraine continue to work towards further interoperability of their forces, and Stoltenberg expressed confidence in Ukraine’s eventual accession to NATO.”