BRUSSELS. April 19 (Interfax) - Specific dates of Ukraine's entry in NATO can only be discussed after the situation with Ukraine, which will also need to rebuild its economy and armed forces, is settled, Czech President Petr Pavel said on Wednesday.
"At this point it is extremely difficult to talk on concrete dates of [NATO] membership," he said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Above all else, the conflict has to end, he said. "Then we can start thinking about potential dates [...] Ukraine will have to reconstruct its economy, its military to become a stable country again. It will take time, it will take a lot of effort," he said.
There is no alternative to the NATO military support to Ukraine under these circumstances, he said.
In 2015-2018, Pavel was chairman of the NATO Military Committee. He was the first representative of an Eastern European state in this post.
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