Volodymyr Zelenskiy makes a quick visit to Prague ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has arrived in Prague, where he is making a working visit. He was received by the President of the Czech Republic, Piotr Pavel.
"I will have substantive negotiations with President Piotr Pavel, Prime Minister Piotr Fiala, the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament, Milos Vystrchil and Marketa Pekarova Adamova. I will meet with members of the government, parliament and representatives of the media. The focus is on defense support, the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and the NATO summit in Vilnius, the situation around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the implementation of the peace formula and the reconstruction of Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on his official Telegram account. Ukraine is waiting for a clear signal from NATO at the mid-July summit in Vilnius that it can join the military alliance when Russia's war against its country ends.
Although Ukraine wants to join as soon as possible, NATO members have mixed views on how quickly that step should be taken, with some wary of moves they fear could bring the alliance closer to active war with the Russian Federation. The Czech Republic has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion, providing military and other humanitarian aid.
The Czech president, who served as head of the Czech army and chief military adviser to NATO's secretary general from 2015-2018, told Reuters that Ukraine needed support to join NATO and the European Union, but joining either would be a long process.
