Before his meeting with Joe Biden, President Volodymyr Zelesnskyy called it 'absurd' for NATO not to have a timeframe for Ukraine's invitation.
, called it"unprecedented and absurd" for the military alliance not to have a concrete timeframe to extend an invitation to Ukraine. Ukraine's leader slammed the"conditions" placed on NATO's consideration of Ukraine.
He spent Wednesday morning meeting with key allies in Vilnius, including the leaders of Germany, Canada and the U.K., and delivered remarks at a news conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg early in the afternoon. Zelenskky will join Biden and other leaders shortly after at the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.Among Zelenskyy's goals with joining NATO: eliminate membership as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table in any future peace talks with Russia.
"I think we can work it out," Biden said."But I think it's premature to say to call for a vote now, because there's other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues." The U.S. said Wednesday that Group of Seven nations would begin discussions about providing long-term security guarantees for Ukraine. That initiative will focus on ensuring Ukraine has a sustainable fighting force that is capable of defending Ukraine now and deterring future Russian aggression, as well as a stable economy. It will address the help Ukraine needs to advance government reforms that allies are stipulating as a condition for NATO membership.
Allies also launched a NATO-Ukraine Council amid the summit and agreed to simplify the process for Ukraine to join NATO by removing a requirement for it to submit a so-called Membership Action Plan. "I would agree that the communique is unprecedented, but I see that in a positive way," Sloat assessed.
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