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Ukraine’s accession to NATO, EU currently impossible — Turkish expert

No specific timeframe was set for Ukraine's NATO accession at the bloc’s Vilnius summit in July 2023

ISTANBUL, July 18. /TASS/. Ukraine’s accession to NATO is currently impossible and Kiev is also unlikely to be granted EU membership in the near future, Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara Global Advisory Group and Turkey’s leading expert on international security, said.

"If we look at the situation in terms of the Ukrainian conflict and from NATO’s perspective, I believe that the alliance will not enter direct confrontation [with Russia] but it will support Ukraine through weapons supplies. One cannot expect a ceasefire to be announced in Ukraine at this point, as well as the country to join NATO," the political scientist told TASS.

"As for Ukraine’s talks with the EU, they can also last for years," he added.

NATO members stated at their summit in Bucharest in April 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance in the future. No specific timeframe was set for Ukraine's NATO accession at the bloc’s Vilnius summit in July 2023. Before the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had pointed to the lack of consensus on Ukraine’s membership among the allies.

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