Ukraine-NATO Council meeting at ministerial level to take place in Ankara

Ukraine's ambassador to NATO, Aliona Hetmanchuk, has confirmed that a ministerial-level meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council will take place after all during the Alliance summit in Ankara.

Hetmanchuk noted in an interview with European Pravda that Ukraine, as a partner, will have the most prominent representation at the summit, both at presidential level and at foreign minister level.

"The Ukraine-NATO Council will take place at the level of foreign ministers. And this is on the agenda," she said.

Hetmanchuk stressed the importance of this format for Ukraine.

"The Ukraine-NATO Council is what sets us apart from all other partners. It is something that emerged during the full-scale war but this institutional framework will certainly remain after the war ends," she added.

Hetmanchuk also said that more meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Council took place in the first half of this year than during the whole of last year.

Türkiye's permanent representative to NATO, Basat Öztürk, said earlier that a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council at foreign minister level will take place during the NATO summit in Ankara on 7-8 July.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said there will be no separate NATO-Ukraine Council meeting at the level of heads of state during the summit in Türkiye.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit by a delegation that he will lead.