Ukraine wants signal from NATO summit that it can join alliance after war

"We would want a third signal at the NATO summit that Ukraine will get security guarantees - not instead of NATO but for the time until we are in the alliance," he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday Ukraine understood it could not join NATO while war was raging on its soil, but that Kyiv wanted to receive a signal that it can join the military alliance after the war ends.

"We understand that we cannot be a member of NATO during the war, but we need to be sure that after the war we will be," Zelenskiy told a press conference with the visiting Polish and Lithuanian presidents. "That is the signal we want to get - that after the war Ukraine will be a member of NATO".

Reiterating Kyiv's stance before a NATO summit in Lithuania next month, he said Ukraine also wanted security guarantees for the period until it can join the alliance. "We would want a third signal at the NATO summit that Ukraine will get security guarantees - not instead of NATO but for the time until we are in the alliance," he said.