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Zelensky says Ukraine not invited to NATO, including in parts

The Ukrainian president went on to say that the Kiev government "will never agree that one portion of Ukraine will join NATO, and the other portion, controlled by Russia, will not"

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Assumptions about Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO only with territories it currently controls are baseless, because no one is inviting Ukraine to NATO in this format, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We are not being invited to NATO. Signals about partial membership are nonsense, frankly speaking," he said.

The Ukrainian president went on to say that the Kiev government "will never agree that one portion of Ukraine will join NATO, and the other portion, controlled by Russia, will not." He dismissed such reports as "fantasies."

He also admitted that talks with Western countries on security guarantees are proceeding "way slower than expected," because Ukraine has so far failed to submit to Western partners its proposals about the military component of this type of guarantees.

Earlier, The Guardian quoted NATO’s former Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in an indirect speech as putting forward a proposal for Ukraine to join NATO within the borders that Kiev controls.

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Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky

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