The former president of Ukraine and leader of the ‘European Solidarity’ party Petro Poroshenko, who is now at the session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, expressed hope that the first negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU will begin this year. The politician also emphasized that the Ukrainian army currently protects NATO countries from Russian aggression, so the Alliance should be interested in granting membership to Ukraine.

In an interview to RTL, Petro Poroshenko called on the West not to ‘promote the idea of freezing the war’.

‘My message is as follows: please, do not fear the defeat of Putin and his clique. We are standing here at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. I am proud to see the Ukrainian flag here. And I pray that in a short time we will also see the flag of Ukraine at the NATO headquarters in Brussels’, the former president stated.

In addition, the politician explained why the creation of a coalition of fighter jets is important. This would potentially enable a counter-offensive. He expressed hope that after the G7 summit there will be a coalition on combat aviation. According to the NATO standards, Ukraine should dominate the airspace.

Poroshenko stressed that the Ukrainian people are defending European values in this war, so negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union should begin before the end of this year. He also expressed hope that the NATO would be interested in Ukraine’s accession, since it is the Ukrainian army who are currently defending European values.