NATO Chief Affirms Ukraine's Future Membership Amid Tensions with Russia

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg declares that Ukraine deserves to join the military alliance and pledges continuing support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia's invasion just over a year ago. The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but repeated Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO was a key goal behind its invasion, arguing that Kyiv's membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia. NATO leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the course of the war.