BEIJING, September 2. /TASS/. Ukraine cannot become a NATO member state, but Slovakia is ready to work with it on accession to the EU, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

"I emphasize once again what I have said from the beginning: Ukraine cannot become a NATO member state. This is my final decision. As for EU membership, however, we are ready to cooperate with Ukraine on that," the prime minister pointed out.

Fico noted that Ukraine’s EU membership is "an important decision," adding that the country must "fulfill all requirements for accession to the EU." The prime minister said he would discuss the topic with Zelensky at their meeting on Friday.

At the Bucharest summit in April 2008, NATO countries included a promise to accept Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance in the final declaration (without specifying a deadline). Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his successor Mark Rutte have reiterated this statement for the past six months.

However, after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Rutte said that NATO had never made solid promises to welcome Ukraine as a member. In March, he confirmed that this issue was no longer on the agenda.