NATO prepared to back Ukraine in its fight against Russia - but not to extend membership
NATO leaders gathered Wednesday to launch a highly symbolic new forum for ties with Ukraine, after committing to provide the country with more military assistance for fighting Russia but only vague assurances of future membership. U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts will sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body where the 31 allies and Ukraine will sit as equals and be able to call crisis talks.
The setting is part of NATO's effort to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the military alliance without actually joining it. On Tuesday, the leaders said that Ukraine can join NATO «when allies agree and conditions are met.» The ambiguous outcome reflects the challenges of reaching consensus among the alliance's current members while the war continues, and has left Zelenskyy disappointed. «We have to stay outside of this war but be able to support Ukraine.
We managed that very delicate balancing act for the last 17 months. It's to the benefit of everyone that we maintain that balancing act,» Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said as he arrived for the summit. Although Zelenskyy is attending the summit's final day in Vilnius, he has been sharply critical of what he described as NATO's «absurd» reluctance to set a timeline for his country's acceptance into the alliance.
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