2023-07-12 07:08:02
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders were meeting Wednesday to unveil a new forum symbolizing their ties to Ukraine, after pledging to give Kiev more military aid to fight Russia but offering only vague promises about future membership. .
US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts would meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body in which the 31 allies and Ukraine would sit as equals and they could start crisis talks.
The plan was part of NATO’s efforts to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the military alliance without including it in the group. The leaders said on Tuesday that Ukraine could join “when allies agree that conditions are met.”
That ambiguity reflects the challenges of reaching consensus among current alliance members as the war continues, and has disappointed Zelenskyy. His spirits could soar when the Group of Seven nations present their security commitments for postwar Ukraine.
“We must stay out of this war but be able to support Ukraine. We have struck that very delicate balance over the last 17 months. It is to the benefit of all that we maintain that balance, ”said the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, upon his arrival at the summit.
Latvia’s Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, whose country is on NATO’s eastern flank and has a long and checkered history with Russia, said he would have preferred to get more for Ukraine.
“There will always be differences in how fast you want to go. But (…) in the end, what the whole world gets, including Ukraine, and what Moscow sees is that we are all very united, ”he said.
Although Zelenskyy would attend the last day of the summit in Vilnius, he has been highly critical of what he describes as NATO’s “absurd” reluctance to set a timetable for his country to join the alliance.
Ultimately, Western countries are willing to continue sending weapons to help Ukraine do the job NATO was created to do – hold the line in the face of a Russian invasion – but not to allow Ukraine to join their ranks and benefit. their safety while the war continues.
In a speech Tuesday in a Vilnius square, Zelenskyy said he had faith in NATO, but would like “that faith to turn into trust, trust in the decisions we deserve, all of us, every soldier, every citizen, every mother, every child.
However, prudence has prevailed at the summit, especially from Biden, who has specifically said that he does not believe that Ukraine is ready to join NATO. There are concerns that the country’s democracy is too unstable and corruption too entrenched.
Article 5 of the NATO charter indicates that members are obligated to defend themselves against attack, something that could quickly bring the United States and other countries into direct conflict with Russia.
However, defining when hostilities have ended is not an easy task. The authorities have declined to define the objective, which could mean a negotiated ceasefire or Ukraine recovering all the occupied territory. In any case, Putin would practically have veto power over Ukraine’s NATO membership by prolonging the conflict.
Also among the events scheduled for Wednesday was a meeting of the Group of 7 on the sidelines of the summit that could establish a long-term security framework for Ukraine.
In a statement, the British Foreign Office said the G7 joint statement “will set out how the Allies will support Ukraine in the coming years to end the war and deter and respond to any future attacks. It is the first time that so many countries have agreed to a comprehensive long-term security agreement of this kind with another country.”
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Associated Press writers Karl Ritter and Liudas Dapkus contributed to this report.
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