NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday rejected Russian calls for Ukraine to be excluded from future membership in the alliance and denounced Moscow’s “provocative” military build-up. On Wednesday, Russia handed a list of security demands to US assistant secretary of state Karen Donfried, who then came to NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday to discuss them with Stoltenberg. But the NATO chief on Thursday also met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and gave a joint news conference to insist that any decision on membership was a matter for Kiev and the alliance’s 30 member states. “We will not compromise on the right of Ukraine to choose its own path. We will not compromise on the right for NATO to protect and defend all NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said. He said there would also be no compromising on NATO’s partnership with Ukraine, describing it as important for both sides. “Democracies of course have the right to work closely with a close partner such as Ukraine and our relation with Ukraine is defensive,” he said. “It’s not in any way a threat to Russia.”