Newly appointed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on Oct. 3 for a surprise visit.
Rutte's visit came days after he took the helm as the alliance's new secretary general. As a Dutch prime minister, he remained one of the staunchest of Kyiv's allies, taking the lead with initiatives like providing F-16 planes to Ukraine.
The NATO secretary general said on Oct. 1 that Ukraine would remain one of his top priorities amid Russia's ongoing war.
Speaking at a press conference with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Rutte reiterated that Ukraine's path towards NATO is "irreversible."
"Now we are focused on getting Ukraine invited to join the alliance. This is a very important step. It is difficult to achieve. We are focused on this result. We will do everything to get it," Zelensky said.
Following their meeting in Kyiv, Zelensky said that he and the new NATO secretary general discussed the implementations of "the decisions of the Alliance's Washington summit." The Ukrainian president also talked to Rutte about the possibility of jointly intercepting Russian drones and missiles.
"Jointly intercepting Iranian missiles is no different from jointly intercepting Russian missiles, and especially 'Shaheds,' which link the Russian and Iranian regimes," Zelensky said in the wake of fresh Iranian missile attacks against Israel.
The Western partners have thus far refused to help Ukraine in shooting down drones and missiles over its territory, fearing this could be seen as a direct involvement in the war.
Abbey Fenbert
The president also said that "Ukraine needs to strengthen its positions on the front line so that we can increase pressure on Russia for the sake of fair, real diplomacy." This is why the country needs a "sufficient quantity and quality of weapons, including long-range weapons, the provision of which, in my opinion, is being delayed by our partners," he added.
"Our key goal is Ukraine's full NATO membership. Ukraine can become the 33rd member of NATO. Ukrainians deserve this," Zelensky noted.
Earlier, Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on partners to issue a membership invitation to Kyiv, said Ukraine will join NATO only after Russia's full-scale war ends.
The invitation to join NATO is part of Ukraine's victory plan that was presented to U.S. President Joe Biden in late September.
The July NATO summit in Washington ended with the launch of the Ukraine Compact, a security framework signed by 32 allies. The countries affirmed Kyiv's "irreversible" path toward membership, though Ukraine did not receive any definitive news about its future accession.
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