Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Vilnius, where he will take part in the summit of the Bucharest Nine and Nordic countries, the speaker of the head of state, Serhiy Nikiforov, has said.
“Bilateral meetings with the summit participants are also scheduled on the margins of the summit,” Nikiforov added.
Earlier, the press service of the Lithuanian President said that the leaders of the states of the Eastern and Northern flanks of NATO were invited to the summit in Vilnius.
According to the report, representatives of the so-called Bucharest Nine (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia), the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland) and Ukraine will arrive in Vilnius. The NATO Secretary General will also take part in the summit.
During the meeting, the issues of strengthening security and defence of the eastern flank of the Alliance will be discussed, as well as preparations for the NATO summit to be held in The Hague on 24-25 June. They plan to discuss further support for Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On 21 May, European Union countries reached an agreement to create a €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund. On 27 May, the EU Council approved the first large-scale defence investment programme at the EU level worth 150 billion euros.