The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the remark of the deputy speaker of the Hungarian Parliament that Ukraine needs Russia's permission to join NATO.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said that Ukraine has the sovereign right to freely choose its security means. This right has been repeatedly confirmed at the level of all NATO member states, including Hungary.
"We do not need Russia's permission to become a member of the Alliance. At the same time, it is dangerous when some Hungarian politicians try to make the security of the Euro-Atlantic area dependent on Moscow's whims," Nikolenko said on Facebook.
He stressed that there are no objective reasons that would prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
"Ukraine's membership will only strengthen the Alliance and make it impossible for Russia to repeat its aggression in Europe in the future," he added.
On 11 April, the Ukrainian parliament appealed to NATO members to speed up the country's accession to the Alliance.
Later, during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine should find a place in the Euro-Atlantic family, and that Ukraine's place is rightfully in NATO.