At NATO summit, Allies should announce specific steps to further assist Ukraine – chief of delegation to PA

This was announced on national television by the head of the permanent delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Yehgor Chernev, Ukrinform reports.

"Focus (of U.S. President Donald Trump - ed.) is shifted toward Iran, but when we talk about the NATO summit, it was actually adjusted for Trump. The very fact that the order of this summit was focused on one issue that concerns Trump is the increase in the defense budgets of the Allies," Chernev said.

The People's Deputy emphasized that the defense budgets of NATO member states will be the central topic of the summit.

"Nothing more will be discussed there. Our task, of course, is to raise the issue of Ukraine during the summit. The most that we expect is a reaffirmation of the same position that was voiced last year at the summit in Washington regarding the irreversibility of Ukraine's path to NATO. In addition, within the framework of the NATO summit, it is important to secure specific and practical steps to provide us with assistance – if not from the United States, then from other countries," he added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the program of the NATO summit in The Hague provides for the holding of the Ukraine-NATO Council at the level of foreign ministers.

The NATO summit in The Hague will be held on June 24-25. Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed he had invited Ukraine to participate in the event, while refraining from speculating on the format of such a meeting.

Poland wsaid it will support Ukraine's aspirations for NATO membership.

Earlier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stated that during the meeting of NATO leaders at the summit in The Hague, preserving European and Euro-Atlantic unity will be no less important than increasing defense spending.