NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Ramstein, Germany, on Friday that member states agreed in principle that Ukraine should join the bloc.
Stoltenberg had just returned from a trip to Kyiv where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for his country's accession to be fast-tracked.
The NATO head said the priority for the moment was "that Ukraine prevails" against Russia and ensuring that Kyiv also had the "deterrence to prevent new attacks" thereafter.
One of the typical prerequisites for joining NATO is not being in a war. Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had already said that Ukraine's NATO accession was unlikely amid continuing conflict with Russia. In terms of the agenda for Friday's talks, Pistorius had said it would not be an issue under discussion.
Stoltenberg also said that Zelenskyy had accepted his invitation to NATO's summit in Vilnius this July during his visit to Kyiv.

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