As long as it takes

NATO vows to stick with Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’

We are pretty much becoming a de facto NATO army,” Ukraine’s foreign minister says in his first NATO-Ukraine Council meeting.

BY STUART LAU

NATO's foreign ministers Wednesday agreed to step up work with Ukraine on a wide range of security issues, in a bid to show solidarity amid distractions from the war between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, NATO allies vowed to "remain steadfast in their commitment to further step up political and practical support to Ukraine" and said they "will continue their support for as long as it takes," after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels.

"We are increasing our interoperability with NATO," Kuleba said, ahead of the first foreign ministerial-level NATO-Ukraine Council meeting. "We are pretty much becoming a de facto NATO army, in terms of our technical capacity, management approaches and principles of running an army."

According to the NATO statement, the alliance and Ukraine "are already working and taking decisions together, as equals, on a broad range of issues, including interoperability, energy security, innovation, cyber defence, and resilience. We will further develop these work strands."

NATO countries will also work to "help rebuild the Ukrainian security and defence sector and to support Ukraine’s deterrence and defence in the long term."

"As part of these efforts, we are developing a roadmap for Ukraine’s transition to full interoperability with NATO," they said, underlining the importance of interoperable systems as a prerequisite for Ukraine to join NATO.