Polish Defense Minister Forecasts 'Hard' Path for Ukraine to NATO Membership

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The process of Ukraine's accession to NATO will be difficult, Polish National Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Monday.

"Ukraine's path to NATO will be hard," Kosiniak-Kamysz was quoted as saying by the defense ministry, recalling that "Poland has always been supportive of other countries' accession to NATO."

He said Warsaw should continue supporting Kiev as "investing in Ukraine's victory means investing in Poland's security."

Ukraine submitted its application for NATO membership in September 2022, counting on expedited processing. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has on numerous occasions said that the military alliance was supportive of Kiev's aspirations but is not ready to approve its application right away.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was closely monitoring the situation and recalled that one of the reasons for Russia's special military operation in Ukraine was the latter's enshrining its euroatlantic aspirations in its constitution.

Western countries, including NATO member states, have been providing military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO's expansion to include Ukraine would create a direct national security threat to Russia and that Moscow considers the non-aligned status of Ukraine to be extremely important.