"Ukraine is currently not ready to join NATO. During the latest summit in Warsaw this July there was a Ukraine-NATO meeting, where the Alliance member states made a joint statement about the development of future relations between Ukraine and the bloc. NATO member states' leaders… confirmed their commitment to the open door policy, which provides Ukraine with the opportunity to join NATO in the future in case of implementation of all the obligations. Though, this issue is not on the agenda for the near future," Reichel told the Ukrainian Novoe Vremya magazine.
In December 2014, Ukraine suspended its non-aligned status and confirmed its intention to join NATO. In September 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a military doctrine, stipulating the need for the country's armed forces to match NATO standards by 2020.
In March, Ukraine and NATO agreed on a set of reforms that the Ukrainian Armed Forces must undergo to comply with the Alliance's standards, following the signing of a road map on defense-technical cooperation in December 2015.
