- Ukraine criticizes delay in NATO accession
- Ukraine’s path to NATO membership simplified
- Concerns and uncertainties surround Ukraine’s membership timeline
President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized the “absurd” delay in Ukraine’s accession to NATO. In response, NATO states have stated that Ukraine can join the military alliance “once allies agree and conditions are met.
In a communique, NATO acknowledged the need for speedier action but declined to specify a timeline.
Previously, Mr. Zelensky stated that there appeared to be “no readiness” to invite or admit Ukraine into NATO.
He is currently in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where the summit is taking place.
Kyiv recognizes that it cannot join NATO as long as it is at war with Russia, but it hopes to join as soon as the conflict ends.
At a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stated that allies had reaffirmed Ukraine’s membership in the alliance and agreed to waive the formal membership action plan requirement.
“This will change Ukraine’s path to membership from a two-step process to a one-step process,” he explained.
Mr. Zelensky warned that without a deadline, his country’s eventual participation could be used as blackmail.
“A window of opportunity exists for Ukraine’s NATO membership to be negotiated with Russia. “Uncertainty is a sign of weakness,” he stated.
His remarks follow disagreements among NATO members regarding Ukraine’s membership.
Some fear that Ukraine’s near-automatic membership would provide Russia with an incentive to escalate and prolong the conflict caused by its full-scale invasion of its southern neighbor.
NATO stated in its communique that Ukraine had become “increasingly interoperable and politically integrated with the alliance” and had also made reform progress. It was stated that member states would support further reform.
Mr. Stoltenberg will encounter Mr. Zelensky on Wednesday during the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.
The summit takes place one day after Turkey abandoned its opposition to Sweden joining the military alliance.
Previously, Turkey had blocked Sweden’s application for months, alleging it of harboring Kurdish militants. The country will now become the alliance’s 32nd member, joining in April after Finland, which borders Russia.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, both countries declared their intention to join NATO.
At the summit on Tuesday, a succession of military packages for Ukraine were also announced.
In August, a coalition of eleven nations will begin training Ukrainian pilots to operate American-made F-16 fighter jets at a center to be established in Romania, according to officials.
In May, the United States authorized its Western allies to provide Ukraine with advanced jets, including the long-desired F-16s – a significant upgrade from the Soviet-era aircraft it is presently employing.
Ukraine had repeatedly persuaded its Western allies to provide jets for its recently launched counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory.
However, according to experts, training Ukrainian pilots to navigate and operate Western jets will require considerable time.
Russian news agencies cited Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu as saying that Moscow would be compelled to use “similar” weapons if the United States supplied controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine.
The weapons distribute bomblets over a vast region and are banned by over 100 nations due to their civilian harm.
Mr. Shoigu stated that Russia possessed comparable cluster weapons but had refrained from employing them thus far.
According to human rights organizations, Russia and Ukraine have used cluster munitions during the 17 months of war since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2014.
