The allies are wary of the security guarantees Zelensky demands and will not offer a clear membership schedule.
NATO leaders hope to send a message of strong support to Ukraine and its ambitions to join the alliance when they meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday and Wednesday for a summit convened to discuss the future of relations to be determined with Kiev and the participation of the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelensky, is expected.
NATO heads of state and government’s best-kept secret is the signal they are sending to Kiev to reinforce the 2008 Bucharest Declaration, in which they already recognized Ukraine as a future NATO member. The idea is to give more force to this promise, in the middle of the war with Russia, although Allied sources rule out that the statement’s language contains any temporal reference to Ukraine’s joining the organization.
The allies are not considering setting a timetable for Ukraine’s accession to NATO, nor are they planning to jointly provide security guarantees to Kiev. The position of Allied Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is that NATO countries should now focus their efforts on militarily supporting the Ukrainian army to win victories and recapture territory in its counter-offensive, which will strengthen its position in future peace negotiations. improve.
It is also out of the question for NATO to agree to formally invite Ukraine to join the organization as requested by Zelensky, as the allies understand that “today the security conditions for membership do not exist”.
Thus, the meeting in the Lithuanian capital will force Allied leaders to conduct an important political and diplomatic exercise to emphasize the practical support they are providing to Ukraine, in the context of Russian aggression, without disappointing Zelensky’s aspirations.
The flagship measure will be NATO’s multi-year package to help modernize Ukraine’s defenses and institutions for the next decade. The multibillion-euro plan aims to provide sustained support to Kyiv and facilitate its eventual entry into NATO by improving interoperability and adopting Western military standards.
On the political side, NATO wants to inaugurate the NATO-Ukraine Council, hand-in-hand with Zelensky, a consultation mechanism that will put Kiev on an equal footing with allies to hold consultations and address security issues. Until now, this format has only been maintained with Russia, although the invasion of Ukraine blew up all bridges between NATO and Moscow.
One of NATO’s assets in organizing support to Ukraine is the success of its Accession Advisory Programme, a project through which it provides assistance and practical support to candidate countries to join the bloc. In the case of Ukraine, the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the large-scale invasion of 2022 led to a close relationship that renders this program meaningless.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
