Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hopes that Ukraine will join the alliance within the next 10 years, he said in an interview with the DPA news agency published on July 5. Western officials said Ukraine will not receive a membership invitation at the upcoming NATO summit in Washington but can expect “concrete ways” to accelerate its entry. Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022, half a year into Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has yet to receive a clear timetable for entry. Kyiv’s hopes for an invitation were dashed during the 2023 summit in Vilnius. “I strongly…