al Jazeera:
NATO stops short of Ukraine invitation, angering Zelenskyy
The military alliance says it will invite Ukraine to become a member only when ‘conditions are met’ but gives no timeline.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a crowd at Lukiskiu Square in Vilnius on July 11, 2023, during a NATO summit [Petras Malukas/AFP]
Published On 11 Jul 202311 Jul 2023
NATO leaders say Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance in the future but stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The leaders of the 31 member states began a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on Tuesday as Ukrainian troops struggle to make significant gains in a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying parts of their country.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the leaders said in a declaration, but they offered no timeline for the process.
“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” the declaration said without specifying the conditions.
NATO did drop a requirement for Ukraine to fulfil what is called a membership action plan, effectively removing a hurdle on Kyiv’s way into the alliance.
But the failure to go much beyond a 2008 promise on future membership appeared a bitter blow to Zelenskyy, who was in Vilnius to address an admiring crowd of Lithuanian supporters in a packed city square before meeting NATO leaders.
Before his arrival, Zelenskyy had criticised NATO leaders in a Twitter post.
“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” he wrote.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said that while NATO’s support for Ukraine is “unflinching and unquestioned”, the outcome of the first day of the summit was not what Kyiv had hoped for.
Published On 11 Jul 202311 Jul 2023
NATO leaders say Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance in the future but stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The leaders of the 31 member states began a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on Tuesday as Ukrainian troops struggle to make significant gains in a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying parts of their country.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the leaders said in a declaration, but they offered no timeline for the process.
“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” the declaration said without specifying the conditions.
NATO did drop a requirement for Ukraine to fulfil what is called a membership action plan, effectively removing a hurdle on Kyiv’s way into the alliance.
But the failure to go much beyond a 2008 promise on future membership appeared a bitter blow to Zelenskyy, who was in Vilnius to address an admiring crowd of Lithuanian supporters in a packed city square before meeting NATO leaders.
Before his arrival, Zelenskyy had criticised NATO leaders in a Twitter post.
“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” he wrote.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said that while NATO’s support for Ukraine is “unflinching and unquestioned”, the outcome of the first day of the summit was not what Kyiv had hoped for.
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kt comments:
One of the VERY reasons for Russia's attack against Ukraine was the fear of the NATO-rization of the latter, stating such a membership will have NATO members encircling Russia, an unpleasant hostile situation for Moscow.
US and NATO initially denied such an assumption but finally, the Wankees and her allies have abandoned the sly sneaky deception and talk now of the inevitability of Ukraine becoming a NATO member.
I wonder what drastic action Russia will take to "prevent" such an occurrence, that of allowing herself to be encircled by Ukraine and further "strangulated by new members-neighbours Finland and Sweden.
Guess you just cannot trust the words of the Wankees and closed allies!
There is a hot war on, so any actual invitation is a theoretical matter right now.
ReplyDeleteThe VERY reason for the Russki invasion of Ukraine was Putin's judgement that the timing was right to restore Ukraine into greater Russki with very light costs, and the West would be paralysed into inaction.
ReplyDeleteAll the prattle about preventing Ukraine NATO membership and deNazification.was for the benefit of gullible Russki idolators.
Wakakakaka…
DeleteSay that AGAIN!
"All the prattle about accepting Ukraine NATO membership &activating that one-for-all clause5 was for the benefit of gullible demoNcratic idolators."