Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, believes that at the NATO summit Ukraine should receive a signal from its allies that it "belongs to the Euro-Atlantic family" and should be invited to join as soon as circumstances allow.

Christoph Heusgen admitted that Ukraine's accession to NATO remains impossible as long as the current phase of the war continues, as this would mean direct involvement of the Alliance in the war. However, he believes that the allies in Vilnius should send a signal "that Ukraine is part of the NATO family," Heusgen said in interviews with Spiegel.

"Ukraine should also become a member of NATO, once the conditions allow," said Heusgen.

At the same time, he called for the continuation of maximum military support for Ukraine, including Western F-16 fighters, stressing that it is about its survival as a state.

Speaking about potential peace talks, Heusgen rejected the idea of any "security guarantees" for Moscow or the restoration of the previous attitude to the Kremlin's leader in geopolitics.

"Russia has violated all the treaties it has concluded. It would just be a mockery to give Putin some kind of security guarantees," he said.

Christoph Heusgen believes that Putin's return to the "first ranks" of international politics is out of the question after peace talks with Ukraine.

"It is absolutely impossible that Vladimir Putin could again act on a par with the United States or China. He is a pariah in international politics, his credibility is completely spent," said Heusgen.

In the spring, Heusgen called on the West to step up assistance to Ukraine, arguing that gradual and indecisive military support would lead to a stalemate on the battlefield.

Earlier it was reported in the media that a small group of NATO states are holding "frantic last-minute talks" to finalise a declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuania on 11-12 July.