Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel will participate in the meeting, as will US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The informal nature of the meeting makes it impossible to make any decisions, and the meeting is focused on preparing for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Washington in July.

"It's a more private, informal discussion, the ministers will be essentially alone in the room talking, and finishing some of the work that is still ongoing for the Washington summit," US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said during a preview briefing on Wednesday.

But last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for the country to be able to use Western-supplied weapons to hit military positions on Russian territory.

The issue is far from consensual and there are several countries in the political-military bloc that want to continue to limit the use of Western weapons to Ukrainian defense on its own territory.

Attacks on Russian territory with Western-supplied weapons could be interpreted by the Kremlin as direct involvement in the conflict and lead to an escalation.

Finland, Canada and Poland have already announced that they do not oppose the use of the weapons they sent to Ukraine to hit Russian territory, but others, such as the United States and Belgium, have limited their use to Ukrainian territory.

On Tuesday, Zelensky and the Belgian prime minister signed an agreement to provide 30 F-16 fighters to Ukraine by 2028, but Alexander De Croo made sure to put in writing that they cannot cross the border into Russia.

Ukraine's accession to NATO will be discussed again at the July summit, sources in the political-military organization told Lusa, and the allies are expected to show a clearer signal to Kiev about this aspiration.

But the same sources warned that there will be no change to Ukraine's current status, as the conflict is a key condition for moving forward in the process.

As for the succession of Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General, and despite the fact that the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, remains the favorite, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, remains in the running.

"The momentum is on Rutte's side, but not all countries have shown a willingness to endorse his candidacy," the Washington ambassador to NATO said.

The "expectation is that it will be resolved by July," at the time of the Atlantic Alliance summit, Julianne Smith said.

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