NATO should guarantee continuous support to Ukraine to protect it from Russian aggression, - Duda
At the summit in Washington, NATO must guarantee continued and uninterrupted support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression, and at least confirm that Ukraine's path to the Alliance is inevitable.
According to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform, this was stated by Polish President Andrzej Duda during a joint press conference with Albanian President Bajram Begaj in Warsaw on Tuesday.
"We talked about how NATO should guarantee Ukraine long-term and continuous support as long as this assistance is needed to effectively defend itself against Russian aggression," Duda said.
He noted that the North Atlantic Alliance should guarantee at the summit "at least the inevitability of Ukraine's path to NATO, that is, that it will depend solely on the will of Ukrainian society".
The President of Poland also thanked Albania for providing Ukraine with military assistance to counter Russian aggression.
According to Duda, NATO should launch a "new strategic policy" towards Russia. This means that Brussels should stop being guided in its relations with Russia by the NATO-Russia founding act, which Moscow has long violated many times, in particular on non-proliferation issues, by deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus, and by the significant militarisation of the Kaliningrad region bordering Poland, he said.
"Now we need a new and firm policy towards Russia that will protect the eastern flank, the entire free world from Russian imperialism and Russian aggression," Duda said.
The Polish president stressed that two "fundamental points" at the NATO summit should be continued support for Kyiv until the war is over and Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored within its internationally recognised borders, as well as a firm policy towards Russia.
Duda also noted that the priority of the Polish presidency of the EU Council in the first half of next year will be actions aimed at integrating Albania, other Western Balkan countries, as well as Ukraine and Moldova into the EU.
In his turn, Begay stressed that the best way to counter Russian aggression is a united Europe, and thus the enlargement of the European Union. He expressed hope that Poland's EU presidency in the first half of next year will have a significant impact on the European integration process of the entire Balkan region. The Albanian president called Russian aggression in Ukraine "the greatest threat to peace and security in Europe".
"Albania expresses its full solidarity with Ukraine and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the Albanian leader said. He added that in the context of Russian aggression, Ukraine should be supported as long as it needs it.
"This is not charity, but our joint investment in our future and peace in the world. We believe in Ukraine's future in the Euro-Atlantic family and we support Ukraine's aspirations to become a NATO member," said Begay.
He recalled that a few months ago, Albania and Ukraine organised the Ukraine-Western Balkans summit, during which all Western Balkan countries expressed their support for Ukraine and condemned Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.
As a reminder, the NATO summit will take place on 9-11 July in Washington.
