ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he believes his country will join NATO only after it wins the war against Russia.

While visiting the National Defense University in the capital Kyiv along with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Zelenskyy said: “In my personal opinion, we will be in NATO only when we win. I do not believe that we will be accepted into NATO during the war.”

“For some, this is a risk, for some, it is simply skepticism,” Zelenskyy said during a meeting with officers at the university on Monday.

Indicating that the issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a political issue rather than a decision based on Kyiv’s “compatibility” with the alliance’s standards, Zelenskyy said that a victory is needed for Kyiv to be politically included.

“I believe that one of the reasons why there is a war is because we were not in the alliance before that," Zelenskyy further said, adding that Russia worked very hard with Ukraine’s partners many years ago so that Kyiv is not accepted into NATO and the EU.

For his part, Stoltenberg said it is necessary that all 32 NATO members agree to invite a new country to become a member of the alliance, but that they currently do not have such a consensus.

Earlier on Monday, Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, during which he held talks with Zelenskyy and addressed the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.