Moscow, 30 September 2022 (dpa/MIA) — Ukraine is applying for an "accelerated" accession to NATO after Russia annexed four of its territories. "De facto, we have already started our path to NATO. Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure (legal)," Zelensky said in a video published on Telegram. He justified the call for a faster accession procedure with the importance of Ukraine for the defense of the Western society. He said his country is ready to join the alliance because of its cooperation with the organization. Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to integrate Western weaponry during the fight against Russia. However, a prerequisite for joining NATO is that the candidate country must not be involved in international conflicts and border disputes. Zelensky, meanwhile, ruled out negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said Ukraine is ready for dialogue with Russia, but only under a different Russian president. Russia has declared the Donetzk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya provinces to be part of the Russian Federation. The annexation is not recognized internationally.