Portugal becomes the 23rd country to sign a declaration of support for Ukraine's NATO membership: details

Portugal officially supports Ukraine's accession to full NATO membership and will continue to provide all necessary assistance to increase our country's defence capabilities. Lisbon strongly condemns the military actions initiated by Moscow and takes a stand for justice in this unequivocal issue.

This result was reached by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Costa during the negotiations, the Office of the Ukrainian Guarantor reports. The politicians signed a joint declaration of cooperation, where the clause on our country's accession to NATO and the European Union is the key one.

"Ukraine has officially requested an accelerated NATO membership procedure in September 2022. The Republic of Portugal will continue to support Ukraine on its path to future membership and supports Ukraine's accession to NATO when the conditions are right," the document says.

The leaders of both countries look forward to addressing all these issues at the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023. It is there that Allies will reaffirm Kyiv's right to determine its own foreign policy course and ways to defend itself.

The Czech Republic was the first country to sign a declaration of support for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration. The document was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Petr Fiala to Kyiv.

The Baltic states - Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia - then joined this initiative. Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Montenegro, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Belgium followed. The declaration was signed twice with the latter: in November and in May, the document was further elaborated.

A late declaration of support for Ukraine's NATO course was adopted by Italy, France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, and Romania.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL reported that the Foreign Policy Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament approved a draft declaration expressing support for Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance after the end of the military conflict. The document also calls for continued military and technical support for Ukraine.

In December last year, Montenegro also took a similar political step. Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic stressed that Podgorica supports NATO's open door policy and Ukraine's full membership.

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