All NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance, but the main focus now is to ensure that the country prevails over Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Friday, Reuters reports.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, he also said that once the war in Ukraine is over, Kyiv must have "defenses to prevent further attacks".

"President Zelensky has very clear expectations," the head of the military alliance said, adding that Ukraine needed "security" to ensure that history does not repeat itself."

"The main focus now is to ensure that Russian President Putin will not win the war, that Ukraine will prevail, because without a sovereign and independent Ukraine, there is no point in discussing its membership in the alliance," Stoltenberg emphasized.

Speaking ahead of the Contact Group on Ukraine meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the NATO chief revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has formally accepted an invitation to join the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July.

Read more from the 422nd day of the war in Ukraine.

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