He says that for the Balkan countries, the decision to bring them in in principle is taken, but actual membership will depend on objective achievements, whereas for Ukraine, the principle itself of bringing them in needs to be decided upon.

And that's about candidate States. So NATO is reacting to requests from countries, and is saying that by no means the decision that Ukraine should join is taken.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes