Ukraine's accession to NATO not easy: Biden

US President Joe Biden has said that Ukraine's accession to NATO is not easy and to gain membership Kiev requires to make special arrangements in this regard.

Biden pointed out on Saturday that Kiev needed to make its armed forces up to par with other NATO members. "They've got to meet the same standards. So we're not going to make it easy," the US president told reporters gathered at Andrews military base near Washington, DC.

The US president insisted that the difficult requirements set for Kiev for gaining accession to the military alliance will not be waived due to its ongoing war with Russia.

Meanwhile, NATO leaders are scheduled to hold their first meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius next month, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday in Brussels.

The upcoming meeting will give Kiev a place at the NATO leader's table "to consult and decide on security issues," Stoltenberg said, adding, "We're not going to discuss an invitation at the Vilnius Summit."

He said, however, that the NATO leaders will hold discussions to find ways on how to "move Ukraine closer to NATO." "I'm confident that we will find a good solution and consensus."

The collective US-led NATO countries have already supplied Kiev with tens of billions of dollars worth of arms and munitions since Russia launched its special military operation in February 2022.

However, some alliance leaders are said to be worried that Ukraine's accession to NATO would raise the risks of triggering a direct confrontation, and eventually an all-out war with Russia.

ME