Zelensky will speak Thursday by videoconference at the NATO summit

Volodymyr Zelensky will be able to say, without intermediary, to NATO what he thinks. The Ukrainian president is to address by videoconference the leaders of the countries of the Atlantic Alliance who are meeting Thursday in Brussels for an extraordinary summit devoted to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“President Zelensky is invited to address the NATO summit by video link. This will be an opportunity for the leaders of the allied countries to hear directly about the catastrophic situation in which the Ukrainian people find themselves due to Russia’s aggression, “said a NATO official on Tuesday. in a press release.

The issue of NATO membership

The spokesman for the Ukrainian president, Serguiï Nikiforov, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, had previously indicated that Volodymyr Zelensky would take an “active part” at the summit, with a speech “at the minimum”, and “at the maximum” by ” full participation, naturally in a video format”. The Ukrainian leader will ask for help to end the Russian invasion, according to his spokesperson. “It can be done in several ways. Ban airspace, provide Ukraine with powerful air defense and aviation assets”. On the other hand, “new security formulas will not be discussed” for Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky had declared on March 15 that it was necessary to “recognise” that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO, whereas this question is one of the reasons put forward by Russia to justify its invasion of the country. “The Allies are helping Ukraine to enforce its fundamental right to defend itself by providing it with a large quantity of essential military equipment,” recalled the NATO official. “At the summit, Allies and Ukraine will consider what Allies can do to strengthen (their) support for Ukraine,” he added.

This extraordinary summit was convened by the Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg for Thursday, the day when a G7 summit and a summit of the European Union are also held in Brussels. US President Joe Biden, who will participate in these three summits, announced that Westerners would announce “new sanctions against Russia and strengthen” those that already exist.