Ukraine obtains the promise of a streamlined procedure and guarantees on weaponry, but does not gain assurances on the terms and circumstances of admission, the issue that was most essential to Kiev.
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| NATO Summit 2023 Vilnius |
Not everything went as Volodymyr Zelensky had planned for at the NATO meeting in Vilnius. While Ukraine has made progress in a number of areas, it has been deprived of the one thing it most desired: a direct and exact route to joining the Atlantic Alliance. Kiev no longer needs to go through a convoluted accession process, but the summit's outcomes in the capital of Lithuania simply say that the nation would be allowed to join the club "once the allies agree and the conditions will be satisfied."
Rather vague words that are the result of the distance between the United States and Germany, which have always been cautious on the subject, and various members of Central and Eastern Europe, supported by the United Kingdom and France.
More specifically, the carefully chosen words in the conclusions state that the Allies "will continue to support and review Ukraine's progress on interoperability and further necessary democratic and security sector reforms," and that they will support the "carrying out these reforms on its path to future membership." The conclusions go on to say that we will be able to extend the invitation to join the Alliance to Ukraine once the Allies agree and the requirements are met. Joe Biden, who had earlier stated that "Ukraine is not ready for NATO membership," effectively won the argument with the phrasing.
"I want to call your attention to the language used in relation to the 'conditions' that we must meet in order to be extended an invitation to NATO. "It is unprecedented and absurd that no timetable is set for either the invitation or for the accession of Ukraine," Zelensky tweeted yesterday, expressing his annoyance. "The absolute majority of our people expect to receive specific information about these conditions."
Ben Wallace, the defense minister of the United Kingdom, criticized the president for telling Ukraine that his friends are not "Amazon" and urging him to express thanks for weaponry donations. Then today's Ukrainian president adopted a more subdued tone,
Concerning Zelenskyy's worries, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that it is currently crucial to make sure that the former Soviet nation triumphs in its conflict with Vladimir Putin's Russia because "if Ukraine does not prevail, there is no accession to discuss."
It is "legitimate for the Ukrainian president to be demanding of us, because he is fighting on the ground," according to French President Emmanuel Macron. However, he emphasized that the meeting will "make it very clear that the path to NATO is there." While some lawmakers acknowledged that Kiev didn't exactly achieve what it wanted, they maintained that Kiev would still return home with a sizable following.
According to Hlib Vyshlinsky, executive director of the Center for Economic Strategy, a Kyiv-based think tank, "Only a clear signal of Ukraine's accession to NATO could be a real guarantee of security for large investments in the country," but "unfortunately the country has been told that NATO is afraid to give such a signal." This presents a genuine risk of making Ukraine a defenseless, undeveloped gray region that constantly threatens the security of Europe.
But what Ukraine has accomplished is no minor feat. The NATO-Ukraine Council was established after leaders reached an agreement on a package of measures to aid the country's forces in modernizing. This would allow Kiev and its partners to strengthen ties before joining NATO. The NATO also indicated that Ukraine will not be required to go through a lengthy and preparatory procedure known as the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in order to get ready for the invitation to the alliance.
The same concession was made to Sweden and Finland, who are also authorized to skip this process, and this means that the path to entry will be one-step and not two-stage. although the question remains as to when this phase will begin. Certainly not until the war is over and the conflict with Russia has finally come to an end. This now seems quite clear.
The "Israel model" was then repeatedly used by US officials in reference to the military assistance that Washington gives to Tel Aviv without a commitment to use force to defend it. They promise that Ukraine will receive the same treatment.
In this regard, the G7 nations—the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Japan—presented a national security strategy on the second day of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital, about 18 months after the start of the Russian invasion. The objective is to assist Kiev in fending off the Russian onslaught currently underway and deter Moscow from launching any "future armed attack" against its neighbor.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, removed his veto during the summit, allowing the issue of Sweden's NATO membership to finally be resolved. Ankara has received a number of benefits in return, including the United States' ratification of a 20 billion dollar deal for the acquisition of F-16 aircraft, which Washington had previously vetoed.
According to Erdogan, Sweden would back amending the visa waiver and customs agreement between Turkey and the EU. Erdogan has also gathered assurances about the update of the nation's customs agreement with the European Union as well as the removal of the requirement for travel permits.
Source: Alfonso Bianchi/TODAY