No way Ukraine joining NATO soon: Boris Johnson

London, Mar 16: Ukraine is not going to join NATO any time soon, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday. The statement comes a day after the country's president acknowledged Ukraine would not become part of the Western military alliance.

On Wednesday, Johnson, one of the strong Western supporters of Ukraine said "the reality of the position" is that "there is no way Ukraine is going to join NATO any time soon."

President Vladimir Putin has long depicted Ukraine's NATO aspirations as a threat to Russia, something the alliance denies. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine realized it could not join NATO, his most explicit acknowledgment that the goal, enshrined in Ukraine's constitution, was unlikely to be met.

It came as Russia and Ukraine held a new round of talks, with Zelenskyy saying Wednesday that Russian demands were becoming "more realistic."

But he said the decision had to be for Ukraine to make.

Russia has stepped up its bombardment of Kyiv, as a series of strikes hit a residential neighborhood in the capital city. rison sentence of up to 15 years.