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In view of the growing tensions with Russia, the Ukrainian President Vladimir Selensky has called on NATO to press ahead with his country's accession to the military alliance.
"NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbass," wrote Selensky on Twitter on Tuesday, referring to the unrest region in eastern Ukraine.
An accelerated NATO accession procedure for Ukraine would be “a real signal to Russia”.
The Kremlin reacted immediately, saying that membership of NATO would only exacerbate tensions in eastern Ukraine.
"We have great doubts that this would help Ukraine to resolve its internal problems," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“From our point of view, it would only make the situation worse.” For the millions of residents of the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine, “NATO membership would be deeply unacceptable”.
Since mid-February there has been increased fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the government army in eastern Ukraine.
Recently, reports of massive Russian troop transfers have sparked great concern in the West.
According to the Ukrainian government, Russia is currently gathering thousands of military personnel on the northern and eastern borders with Ukraine and on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which has been annexed by Moscow.
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After a phone call with Selensky, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg criticized "Russia's military activities in and around Ukraine" and "ongoing violations of the ceasefire" on Tuesday.
NATO supports "resolutely the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".
NATO remains "committed to a close partnership with Ukraine," said Stoltenberg.
Military intervention by NATO in the conflict with Russia is ruled out.
Since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in March 2014, the military alliance has increased its aid to strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces.
To this end, trust funds have been set up to promote programs such as explosive devices or cyber defense.
The foreign policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jürgen Hardt (CDU), described the reports of Russian troop movements on the eastern and northern borders of Ukraine on Tuesday as "extremely alarming".
The "military saber rattling" of Russia is highly dangerous and sowing "additional instability in Europe".
A renewed aggression by Russia against Ukraine would "shake the foundations of the European security order," warned Hardt.
More than 13,000 people were killed in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which has been going on since 2014.
In July last year, the conflicting parties agreed on a ceasefire, but it has been repeatedly broken since then.
Most recently, according to the Ukrainian army, two government soldiers were shot dead while fighting with the separatists in the east of the country.
23 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the conflict since the beginning of the year, up from 50 in the whole of last year.