NATO Summit: Allies refuse to give Ukraine a timeframe to join

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By James Landal in Vilnius and James Gregory in London, BBC News, Jul 11, 2023 at 17:35 BST

Updated 20 minutes ago

photo caption,

Mr. Zelensky holds the Ukrainian flag from the ruined city of Bakhmut

NATO countries said Ukraine could join the military alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met” after President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the “ridiculous” delay in joining.

NATO said in a statement that it recognized the need to move faster, but that it would not be set in a time frame.

Earlier, Zelensky said there appeared to be no “willingness” to invite Ukraine to join NATO or make it a member.

He is now in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, where the summit is being held.

Kiev accepts that it cannot join NATO when it is at war with Russia but wants to join as soon as possible after the fighting ends.

But Zelensky, in a tweet before Stoltenberg’s comments, said the lack of an agreed timeframe meant his country’s eventual membership could become a bargaining chip.

“There is a window of opportunity to compromise Ukraine’s NATO membership in negotiations with Russia. Uncertainty is weakness,” he said.

Perhaps NATO did not say when and how Ukraine would join the alliance. But the diplomats emphasized that they had outlined a clearer path to membership, and that the cumbersome application process had been significantly shortened.

The alliance acknowledged that the Ukrainian military has become increasingly “interoperable” and more “politically integrated” with NATO forces and will continue to support reforms in Ukraine’s democracy and security sector.

Diplomats also highlighted the creation of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, which will meet on Wednesday for the first time, which will give Kiev the right to invite meetings of the entire alliance.

But the decision not to give any meaning to the timetable will be seen as a setback for Ukraine.

Although such details were always unlikely, Zelensky’s decision to say the lack of a timeline was “ridiculous” only underscores his diplomatic failure.

Some member states fear that Ukraine’s semi-automatic membership could give Russia an incentive to escalate and prolong the war.

The focus will now shift to the long-term security guarantees that NATO members will entrust to Ukraine as an alternative to early membership.

In the past, Western security pledges have failed to deter two Russian invasions. NATO allies hope that the third round will be strong and clear enough to convince the Kremlin that further aggression would be too costly.

Addressing the crowd in Vilnius later, Zelensky said, “NATO will give security to Ukraine. Ukraine will make the alliance stronger.”

Mr. Zelensky also presented a battle flag from the ruined city of Bakhmut – the site of the longest and possibly bloodiest battle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Vilnius summit comes a day after Turkey dropped its opposition to Sweden joining the military alliance.

Turkey had previously spent months blocking Sweden’s application, accusing it of hosting Kurdish militants. The country will now become the 32nd member of the alliance after Finland – which borders Russia, which joined in April.

Both countries announced their intention to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine.

A series of military packages for Ukraine were also announced at the summit on Tuesday.

An 11-nation coalition will begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly US-made F-16 fighter jets at a center to be set up in Romania in August, officials said.

In May, the United States gave its Western allies the go-ahead to supply advanced aircraft to Ukraine, including the long-awaited F-16 — a significant upgrade to the Soviet-era planes it currently uses.

Ukraine has repeatedly pressured its Western allies to provide aircraft to help in its recently launched counter-offensive aimed at recapturing territory captured by Russia.

But experts say it will take time to train Ukrainian pilots to fly and operate Western planes.

On the other hand, Russian news agencies quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying that Moscow would have to use “similar” weapons if the United States supplied Ukraine with controversial cluster munitions.

The weapon fires small bombs over a wide area and is banned by more than 100 countries due to its effect on civilians.

Shoigu said Russia has similar cluster weapons but has so far refrained from using them.

Rights groups say Russia and Ukraine have already used cluster munitions in the 17 months of war since the Russian invasion in February.

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