At their summit on Tuesday, NATO leaders discuss Ukraine’s aspirations to join the organisation. Sweden’s progress towards joining the alliance has given them more confidence in their ability to take on Russia.
As NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania, on territory formerly occupied by Moscow on the alliance’s eastern flank, German Patriot missile systems and French fighter jets were patrolling the skies.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, will travel to Vilnius for the two-day summit to argue that Kyiv has a right to join after the Kremlin’s invasion is over.
“Ukraine merits membership in the coalition. We need a clear signal, but not right now because there is a war,” Zelensky said in Kyiv.
The Western military alliance is set to offer its full-throated backing for Kyiv’s quest for victory, but its 31 nations are divided over how far to go on letting Ukraine join their ranks.
While Ukraine’s neighbours have pushed for an explicit timetable, heavyweights the United States and Germany are reluctant to go beyond an earlier vow that it will become a member one day.
There is no agreement to grant Kyiv membership while its war with Russia is ongoing, according to US President Joe Biden, who will meet with Zelensky on Wednesday. Doing so would draw Nato directly into the conflict.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the White House, told reporters that NATO would map out the reforms that Ukraine would need to make in order to eventually join, but did not provide a “timetable” for doing so.
By delaying the submission of a formal road map of reforms and simplifying its eventual accession bid, the alliance is extending an olive branch to Kyiv.
The dominant powers of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany are negotiating long-term commitments on weapon supplies with Kiev as Ukraine engages in a punishing counteroffensive.
These fall far short of Zelensky’s desire to be under Nato’s collective defence umbrella but could reassure him that his nation can keep on fighting.
Drawing up something similar to the US arrangement with Israel — which sees Washington sending $3.8 billion (3.5 billion euros) of weapons each year for a decade — is one possibility.
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda insisted only Nato’s article five mutual defence clause “can provide real security guarantees which would deter Russia from any future aggression.”
In a reminder of the daily threat facing Ukrainians, Russia targeted Kyiv and the port city of Odesa in yet another overnight drone attack. There was no immediate information on casualties.
