At a pan-Ukrainian telethon on Saturday, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk relayed that Ukraine is expecting an invitation to join NATO at the NATO summit in Lithuania. 

The summit, due to take place from July 11 to 12 in Lithuania's capital of Vilnius, will host NATO Heads of State and Government. 

"We expect that at the summit in Vilnius Ukraine will receive such an invitation [to join NATO] and will start its way to enter the alliance," Stefanchuk said, recalling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's call back in September for NATO to accelerate their accession to the alliance. 

The bid was submitted following Russia's ratification of four Ukrainian regions' accession to Russia, namely Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, and Zaporozhye.

"We have already proven our compatibility with (NATO) alliance standards," Zelensky said in a video posted by the Ukrainian presidency at the time. "We are taking a decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO."

📹 | #BREAKING: #Ukraine's President #Zelensky signs #NATO application. pic.twitter.com/7axcF8KfAv

— EHA News (@eha_news) September 30, 2022

However, that hope was short-lived as just days later, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the call "should be taken up at a different time."

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