NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit. He met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and said that an agreement on Ukraine's accession to the alliance is not expected at this summer's summit in Washington.

“When the time is right, Ukraine will immediately become a NATO member. We will do everything for this. In order for this decision to be made, we need all the members of the Alliance to agree to it, we need a consensus. I do not expect that we will be able to reach such an agreement at the summit in July, but I think we will be able to demonstrate that we are bringing Ukraine closer to membership,” Stoltenberg said during the press conference.

He emphasized that Ukraine needs to get closer to NATO standards as soon as possible.

“And what we are doing now in terms of military support is part of what meets Ukraine's immediate needs,” the Secretary General said.

Stoltenberg said that countries, choosing between military aid to Kyiv and their own weapons, “should choose Ukraine.”

For his part, Zelensky noted that there are no specifics on the supply of additional Patriot systems to Ukraine.

According to him, there are only “first steps” so far, and the analysis "in which countries, what is available" is ongoing. And when they are in Ukraine, “we will feel it.”

Zelensky said that aid from the military package approved by the United States has already begun to arrive in Ukraine. 

“Something has already started to arrive, I will not say in detail what exactly. Unfortunately, not everything is yet to fill our army and staff the appropriate number of brigades,” the president said.


He also noted that over the past six months, “systems or sometimes parts from the relevant systems have been supplied thanks to funding provided by nine security guarantee agreements.”