Ukraine Wants to Join NATO and EU

After a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting held earlier today in the framework of the ongoing NATO summit in Brussels, Ukrainian President voiced his country’s desire for integration into the Alliance and the European Union.

Ukrainians do not want to be regarded only as "a neighboring country to the EU" but instead as a country involved in the Union, Yushchenko added.

He suggested that Ukraine’s membership negotiations with the EU could begin in 2007 and admitted that membership into NATO is a rather "more sensitive" issue and tried not to give any time frame for membership into the alliance.