On the eve of next week's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told FRANCE 24 he was confident an agreement could be forged to bring Ukraine closer to NATO. In addition to providing practical support and creating a Ukraine-NATO council, he said that a text was being drafted to chart a way forward for Ukraine's future membership in the Atlantic Alliance.
Stoltenberg also stressed that despite claims to the contrary, Ukraine is making progress on the battlefield. He said Western countries were stepping up their weapons deliveries, pointing to the delivery of long-range missiles by the UK, which "is making a difference". He noted that that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F16 fighter jets had begun. While he refused to predict a Ukrainian victory in the coming months, he stated that "Ukraine has the equipment, the training, the ammunition" needed and that NATO is committed to supplying them.
