Blinken declares Ukraine will join NATO

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Brussels on Thursday, on the sidelines of a NATO summit where members were discussing Ukraine's potential accession to the alliance.

The pair spoke to reporters as NATO marked on Thursday 75 years of collective defense across Europe and North America, with its top diplomats vowing to stay the course in Ukraine as better-armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield.

The anniversary comes as the now-32-nation alliance weighs a plan to provide more predictable longer-term military support to Ukraine. Plagued by ammunition shortages, Ukraine this week lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 in an effort to replenish its depleted ranks.

Blinken told reporters that support for Ukraine remained "rock solid".

"Allies will do everything that they can to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to continue to deal with Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine and aggression that gets worse with every passing day," he said.

Commenting on Ukraine's possible accession to the alliance, Blinken assured that "Ukraine will become a member of NATO".

"Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward," he said.

Kuleba was as direct in his statement, telling reporters: "we believe that Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO and that this should happen sooner rather than later."

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