BERLIN, May 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian hopes for a rapid accession to NATO face the risk of remaining unrealized, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported on Tuesday.

According to DPA, two key NATO members, the United States and Germany, recently signaled their reluctance behind closed doors to commit themselves to anything beyond the vague wording of the North Atlantic Alliance’s declaration at its 2008 Bucharest summit, in which the bloc held out the promise to Ukraine and Georgia that they would become members "one day."

While refusing to comment, the Biden administration has indirectly confirmed that it is currently prioritizing further filling the pipeline of weapons and other assistance to Ukraine over Kiev’s NATO accession aspirations, DPA said. "We are focusing on handing more practical support over to the Ukrainians as soon as possible," a US official told DPA.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Kiev in April, where he emphasized, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, that the doors to NATO remained open for Ukraine. The NATO chief also said that security guarantees for Ukraine would be discussed at the alliance’s Vilnius summit in July.

Commenting on Stoltenberg’s visit to Kiev, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preventing Ukraine’s accession to the bloc remained one of the key objectives of Russia’s ongoing special military operation.

In early April, Lithuania’s Seimas (parliament) passed a resolution calling for the North Atlantic Alliance to officially invite Ukraine to become a full-fledged NATO member at the summit to be held in Vilnius on July 11-12.