VILNIUS, Lithuania—NATO members expressed their support for Ukraine's membership on Tuesday, but did not specify a timetable for when this may happen.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the Vilnius Summit Communique (pdf) read.
The high-stakes meeting in Vilnius, scheduled for July 11-12, will bring together leaders from the alliance's 31 member nations to discuss critical global security problems, including the Ukraine conflict.
The partners reiterated their promise made at the Bucharest Summit in 2008 and recognized Kiev's "substantial progress on its reform path."
NATO also deleted the need that Ukraine adopt a "Membership Action Plan" in its communiqué, instead opting for a "Annual National Program" to examine progress on a regular basis.
The alliance agreed to aid Ukraine in executing additional democratic and security reforms required for future membership.
“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met,” the member nations concluded.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was unhappy by the decision. It would be ludicrous, he added on Tuesday, if Kyiv did not receive a schedule for joining NATO at this year's Vilnius gathering.
“It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Zelenskyy also stated that Ukraine “deserves respect” and criticized the communique’s phrasing for being “discussed without Ukraine.”
Before heading to the summit, President Joe Biden told CNN that the war with Russia must be over before NATO can admit Ukraine.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” the president said during the interview released on Sunday.
“It’s a commitment that we’ve all made, no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia if that were the case.”
Mr. Biden also stated that the US and NATO partners must give a "rational path" for Ukraine to join the military alliance.
In addition, the White House suggested that Ukraine may obtain "Israel-style" security assurances in its struggle against Russia.
That means the US would "provide various forms of military assistance, intelligence and information sharing, cyber support, and other forms of material support so that Ukraine can both defend itself and deter future aggression," according to Mr. Sullivan, who spoke to reporters on July 9.
“I expect that at Vilnius you will see the president speaking to this issue and consulting with [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy on this issue, as well as our G-7 partners and other partners as well.”
Mr. Biden is slated to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy on the margins of the conference on Wednesday.
