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Bilateral guarantees for Kiev to bring NATO closer to activating Article 5 — bloc’s chief

"The most important thing is to be very strong in our support for Ukraine," Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that "there are consultations going on" among NATO members

BRUSSELS, May 15. /TASS/. NATO countries’ move to provide bilateral security guarantees to Ukraine will bring the alliance closer to activating Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on collective defense, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

"If NATO allies - and especially, of course, the big one - start to issue security guarantees bilaterally to Ukraine, we are very close to Article 5. So there is no way to find an easy solution to these issues," he pointed out at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, when asked about the possibility of Kiev getting security guarantees at NATO’s summit set to take place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in July.

"The most important thing is to be very strong in our support for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said, adding that "there are consultations going on" among NATO members.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said earlier that Ukraine should become NATO’s 33rd member state after Finland and Sweden. He added that since Ukraine could not join NATO with military activities underway, Kiev expected to get security guarantees from the alliance.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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