Secretary-General of the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg said allies "support Ukraine’s right to choose it’s own path", however the issue of whether to accept into the club is not the main focus at the moment, Defense Express reports.
"The decision on membership, of course, has to be taken by all 30 allies, and we take these decisions by consensus. Our focus now is on providing immediate support to Ukraine, to help Ukraine defend itself against russian brutal invasion," the NATO leader said at the press conference on September 30.
A few hours prior, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed an application for accession to NATO under the "rapid" procedure, as was the case with Finland and Sweden, and called on NATO to accept Ukraine "de-jure", while "de-facto" it is already a full-fledged NATO ally in his address to the nation.
As Stoltenberg spoke on the recent announcement of the annexation of Ukraine’s four regions into russia, delivered by putin earlier today, Jens Stoltenberg underlined that "NATO is not party to the conflict, but we provide support to Ukraine so it can uphold its right for self-defence, enshrined in the UN Charter."
At the same time, he said NATO will never recognize any of the sham referenda in the territories occupied by russia and their illegal annexation.
Read more: Ukraine Applies for Rapid NATO Accession While putin States he Annexes Four Regions of the Country
