Reference News Network February 14** According to AFP on February 13**, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO Juliana Smith said in Brussels on the 13th that Ukraine is expected to receive an invitation to join NATO at the next NATO summit in Washington in early July.
Ahead of the meeting of NATO defense ministers to be held in Brussels on the 14th and 15th, Smith said at a press conference that during the summit scheduled for July 9-11, "I do not expect NATO to invite" Ukraine to join.
Smith believes that the Washington summit in July should show that "NATO continues to draw closer to Ukraine" and take "concrete steps" to promote future NATO membership in the country that is currently at war with Russia.
At last year's Vilnius summit, NATO countries reiterated that Ukraine would definitely join NATO, but did not set a timetable, the report said.
"Since last year's Vilnius summit, we have been working very hard to advance a series of measures to continue to help our Ukrainian friends carry out the necessary reforms" and then join NATO in the future, Smith stressed.
All NATO member states admit that it is impossible for Ukraine to join NATO as long as the war continues. Because NATO Article 5 stipulates that an attack on one member state is equivalent to an attack on all member states. (Compiled by Zhao Kexin).