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Ukraine to review its strategy if not invited to NATO at Vilnius summit – deputy PM

According to Olga Stefanishina, if Ukraine receives no invitation, it will shift its focus from the NATO membership to security guarantees to Kiev from the West

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. Ukraine will have to review its strategy in case it is not invited to join NATO at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olga Stefanishina said on Sunday.

"Definitely, it will require the strategy’s revisions," she said in an interview with Ukraine’s Evropeiskaya Pravda media outlet when asked about Kiev’s possible reaction if no invitation to join NATO after the end of the conflict comes during the summit.

According to Stefanishina, if Ukraine receives no invitation, it will shift its focus from the NATO membership to security guarantees to Kiev from the West. "It means that if we have a deferred decision or an unadopted decision on Ukraine’s membership in NATO, security guarantees will be the focus. So, priorities will evidently be rethought," she explained, adding that the Vilnius summit’s decision will launch processes linked with strategic planning, military assistance, military planning, priorities in relations with allies, and security guarantees.

She also said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has not yet decided whether to go to Vilnius or not.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that Zelensky will attend the first meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council on the summit’s sidelines. However, he did not promise that during the Vilnius summit Ukraine would be invited to join NATO after hostilities in the country are over.