“Our strategic goal is NATO membership. I insist: this pointer is motionless for us as the North Star in the starry sky,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.

“We do everything in the defense sphere firmly holding a compass the needle of which points at the North Atlantic. And it directs us to full compatibility with NATO standards, not only in the military sphere,” the President said.

The Head of State noted that Ukraine had reached the unprecedentedly close level of cooperation with NATO countries. “And we will increase, expand and enhance it until the achievement of full membership criteria,” he added.

“It is important that in 2.5 years, the number of supporters of Ukraine's accession to NATO has increased significantly and it substantially exceeds the number of opponents today. But the given issue still has significant differences between macro-regions,” the President stressed.

“We should also be aware that the Alliance has no consensus on Ukraine's membership as well. Yes, formally the door has been open since the Bucharest Summit 2008. But this door is sensory and may close if we come closer too fast. Therefore, every step must be weighed and pre-calculated in order to avoid the repetition of the Membership Action Plan eight years ago. I want to emphasize that the measures we take now are much greater than the Membership Action Plan of 2008,” the Head of State added.