Kiev - Ukraine's top diplomat on Wednesday tried to put the best face possible on NATO's refusal to invite Kiev to join any time soon, instead saying his government "had achieved everything we wanted."

Volodymyr Ohryzko, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, called a Tuesday decision by NATO headquarters not to offer Ukraine and Georgia fast-track membership "The result that we were working for: We have de facto received an action plan for the preparation of Ukraine to join NATO."

Talks in Brussels earlier this week between the Atlantic alliance and Georgian and Ukrainian representatives produced an agreement stipulating either country might join NATO, but only after major and - in the short term at least - politically impossible domestic reforms.

Ohyrzko's upbeat remarks carried by the UT-1 television news channel contrasted sharply with earlier declarations by Ukraine Foreign Ministry officials, Ohryzko among them, calling immediate Ukrainian membership in NATO a matter of Ukrainian national interest.

The very formulation of an "action list" of conditions for Ukraine to try and meet in order to move towards NATO standards, however difficult and time-consuming, amounted to a substantial victory for Ukrainian diplomacy, and an indisputable first step toward Ukrainian membership in the treaty group, Ohryzko argued.

"Next year we will begin the NATO integration process," he said.

Ukraine's 2009 national budget would contain funding for beginning a conversion of Ukrainian military to NATO standards, as the Tuesday agreement with NATO was a legal treaty with the force of law inside Ukraine, Ohryzko added.

The Foreign Minister's remarks did not touch on the major hurdles for Ukraine's current pro-Europe government in pursuing its pro-NATO agenda, among them majority opposition by Ukrainian citizens to NATO membership, and weakening support across the country for the ruling pro-Europe government. (dpa)