Zelensky Asks Partners to Work with Germany to Invite Ukraine

At the Reykjavik summit, Zelensky assured the representatives of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden that Ukraine is now asking not for NATO membership, but for an invitation. "We are not talking about Ukraine's membership in NATO now during the war. We are talking only about an invitation to join NATO <...>. It is obvious why an invitation to NATO is not the same as full membership in the alliance. Yet some leaders talk about it as if it were the same thing. They are asked about invitation and they answer about membership. That's not fair. It's just a way of saying no," Vladimir Zelensky said, according to TASS.

"Please work with partners across Europe, especially in Berlin, so that together we can achieve this geopolitical clarity," he added.

Earlier, Scholz said in an interview with the ZDF TV channel that there was no need to make a decision on Ukraine's NATO membership now. He recalled that an invitation is usually followed by a fairly quick acceptance into the alliance, but a country that is at war cannot join NATO.