Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Vadym Prystayko has clarified an earlier statement about a possible rejection of the NATO membership bid, saying that Ukraine "will not reconsider its ambitions to join the military alliance," Reuters reported.

Asked whether Ukraine might reconsider its ambitions to join NATO, Ambassador Vadym Prystayko told the BBC in English, "No, it is not, and I am very glad that I have a chance to clarify my position."

Pristayko stated that the BBC's earlier report was the result of a misunderstanding.

"Now we are not a member of NATO, and in order to avoid war, we are willing to make many concessions, which we do in conversations with the Russians," Pristayko said.

"This has nothing to do with NATO, which is enshrined in the Constitution," the ambassador added.

"It's not a reprieve for our ambitions to be in NATO - what we're saying is that right now we're not in the family, so we have to look for something else, like bilateral agreements with Britain, with the United States. So in addition to NATO, we're looking for some other arrangements that would allow us to survive this particular challenge right now," he said.

Asked again whether Ukraine was changing its application for NATO membership, he replied, "No."

As a reminder, earlier, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, Vadym Pristayko, commented on BBC Radio 5 on the possibility of abandoning the desire to join NATO to prevent a war, indicating that Ukraine could show "flexibility."

Afterwards, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said that the words of Ukrainian Ambassador to Britain Vadym Prystayko that Ukraine was ready to give up its NATO membership to prevent war with Russia were taken out of context.

Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO and the European Union are stipulated in its constitution and remain an absolute priority for the country, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergei Nikiforov said in a statement.

The course towards the EU and NATO is enshrined in the Constitution of 2019.