NATO leaders who attended a summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius expressed their support for Ukraine joining the military but stopped short of inviting Kyiv.
Global leaders have agreed that Ukraine's future lies within the military alliance but did not provide or detail a timeline for Kyiv's accession, something the latter has been seeking since the beginning of its war with Russia.
Ukraine's Potential NATO Membership
On top of the remarks, the military alliance also dropped the requirement for Ukraine that mandates Kyiv to fulfill a so-called Membership Action Plan (MAP). This effectively removed an obstacle on Kyiv's way to joining the alliance.
On Tuesday, NATO leaders declared that they had agreed that Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration had already moved beyond needing a MAP. It added that the military alliance could invite Kyiv to join the group when allies agree on the issue and after certain conditions are fulfilled, as per Reuters.
Despite the declaration, NATO leaders did not specify the conditions that Ukraine needs to meet to become a member. However, they noted that the military alliance would move to help Kyiv make progress on military interoperability and additional democratic and security sector reforms.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the "absurd" delay to his country's accession into the military alliance. He previously said there seemed to be "no readiness" to invite Kyiv into the group or make it a member.
Zelensky also said that while Kyiv accepts that it cannot join NATO while it is still at war with Russia, he argued that it wishes to join as soon as possible after the end of the conflict. In a Twitter post, the Ukrainian president argued that the lack of an agreed timeframe means that his country's eventual NATO membership could be taken advantage of as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
According to BBC, he argued that the situation was leaving a window of opportunity to bargain Ukraine's membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia, adding that uncertainty is akin to weakness.
New NATO-Ukraine Council
NATO leaders also highlighted the creation of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, which met for the first time on Wednesday. It would give Kyiv the right to summon meetings of the entire alliance if there was a need to bring them together.
The situation comes as some NATO member countries have expressed concern about potentially giving Ukraine a near-automatic accession into the military alliance. They argue that it could incentivize Russia to escalate and prolong its invasion.
Now, world leaders would focus on what long-term security guarantees the military alliance's members would commit for Ukraine as an alternative to early membership. This comes as Western security pledges in the past have failed to deter two Russian invasions.
Zelensky's criticism of the situation comes as Ukraine has come under Russian attack for the second time this month. Kyiv's military said that Moscow's forces have already carried out 334 airstrikes on the wider country in just the last week, said CNBC.
