The European Union and NATO on Tuesday signed a declaration of strategic cooperation at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The declaration has been signed by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg hailed the deal “more important than ever" due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and noted by signing the declaration, the partnership between NATO and the EU had been upgraded to a "new level".

The document said that on the background of the growing geostrategic competition with Russia and China, NATO and the EU would agree on actions in “great detail”, including the protection of critical infrastructure, utilization of space, overcoming information manipulations from abroad, climate changes and other directions.

This was the third declaration of cooperation between NATO and the EU since  2016. 

Stoltenberg stressed the partnership between NATO and the EU would  become even more important after Finland and Sweden joined the alliance. 

He said NATO would continue to support the "brave Ukrainian people" and "put pressure on the Kremlin as long as necessary."