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Added on the 20/04/2023 13:38:06 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says he looks forward to meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit of the Alliance's leaders this summer. SOUNDBITE
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the NATO summit in Vilnius where NATO member states are meeting to discuss the issue of military aid to Ukraine and its accession to the Alliance. IMAGES
NATO members have agreed that their established goal of spending two percent of their national output on defence will become a minimum level, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg tells reporters. "Eleven allies now reach or exceed the two percent benchmark," he says at the end of the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius. "And we expect this number will rise substantially next year. Today, allies made an enduring commitment to invest at least two percent of gross domestic product annually in defence." SOUNDBITE
NATO leaders agreed at a summit in Vilnius on Tuesday that they will invite Ukraine to become a member when certain conditions are reached, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg says. "We also made clear that we will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met," Stoltenberg tells journalists after the talks. SOUNDBITE
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urges the alliance's leaders heading to a summit in Madrid to keep up their backing for Ukraine as it faces "a brutality which we haven't seen in Europe since the Second World War." SOUNDBITE