Many NATO members want Ukraine to join the Alliance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, and Russia should, too. He made the case at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv on 3 June, UNIAN reports.
Zelenskyy is set to attend the NATO Ankara summit on 7-8 July, where Ukraine's negotiating team is expected to discuss long-term security and funding guarantees rather than membership timelines.
"Russia should be interested"
"Ukraine needs NATO membership as much as NATO needs Ukraine. And Russia needs it too. Russia should be interested in Ukraine becoming a NATO member. Because in the future Russia will feel pain," Zelenskyy said.
Rutte's unannounced morning arrival
Rutte arrived in Kyiv on the morning of 3 June, with Ukrainian officials greeting him at the capital's main railway station, ArmyInform noted. The visit was not publicly announced in advance, in line with previous Rutte trips.
His last visit, in early February 2026, included a stop at a Kyiv combined heat and power plant that had been destroyed in a Russian overnight strike just before his arrival.
On the same day, Russia carried out one of its massive combined attacks on Ukraine, using missiles of various types and hundreds of attack drones to plunge the country into the cold.
As a result of the attack, people were injured, and residential buildings and energy infrastructure were damaged. In Kyiv, fires broke out in high-rise buildings, and a kindergarten was damaged.
Ankara summit looms
The Ukrainian president confirmed earlier in the day that he will attend the NATO summit in Ankara, with Rutte having issued the invitation in late May.
The same press conference saw Zelenskyy disclose that Ukraine now spends $45-50 billion a year on Ukrainian-made weapons — an "unprecedented" figure he described as a "real working security guarantee."
