Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Allies on Thursday 1 June from Bulboaca to invite his country to join NATO at the Vilnius summit on 11 and 12 July.
“This is the year of decision. At the Vilnius summit, a clear invitation for Ukraine for NATO membership is needed and security guarantees on the way to NATO membership are needed”, he explained on his arrival at the meeting of the European Political Community (see EUROPE 13190/18). According to him, “when there are no security guarantees, there are only war guarantees”.
Mr Zelensky pointed out that “every European country that borders Russia and do not want Russia to tear them apart should be full members of the EU and NATO”, adding that there were only two alternatives to this: “either open war or creeping Russian occupation”, as in Moldova or Georgia.
He was supported in his approach by the Chairs of the Committees on Foreign Affairs of 18 parliaments of Alliance member countries and the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. In a declaration published on 1 June, representatives of the parliaments of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Poland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom called on NATO and its Heads of State or Government “to ensure the NATO Vilnius Summit creates a clear path for Ukraine accession to NATO and gives clear and strong security guarantees for Ukraine”. In their view, Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance would be far more effective and less costly than the defence aid currently provided to Kyiv, and would considerably strengthen NATO.
See the declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/76x
But the signals sent out by the informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Oslo on 1 June were much less clear about Ukraine’s future within the Alliance.
“We focused on how we can bring Ukraine closer to NATO”, explained the Alliance’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, after the meeting. According to him, all the Allies agree that the door to NATO remains open and that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. “Only Allies and Ukraine make decisions on membership. Russia does not have a veto”, he added.
But the Secretary General went no further on the subject of a forthcoming decision, reiterating once again that the priority was to “ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent State” against Russia.
With regard to security guarantees, Mr Stoltenberg said that the Allies had to ensure that, when the war ended, there would be “credible arrangements” to guarantee Ukraine’s security and to “break Russia’s cycle of aggression”. “The details, the way in which this will be done, the type of mechanisms remain to be decided, but the idea is to prevent history from repeating itself, to prevent President Putin from continuing to attack European security”, he said.
In his view, the Allies should reach a consensus by the summit on the issues of membership and security guarantees. However, the Secretary General said that further consultations were needed before any decisions could be taken.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, explained that Ukraine could expect to receive significant political and military support at the Vilnius summit.
Ukraine has the capacity for a counter-offensive, according to Mr Stoltenberg
Mr Stoltenberg also pointed out that NATO had already provided unprecedented assistance to Ukraine, saying he was “convinced” that “Ukrainian forces now have the capabilities they need to liberate more occupied land”.
In Chișinău, however, Mr Zelensky called on the West to do more, whether on ground or air defences. “Every step in the implementation of air defence literally saves lives”, said the Ukrainian President, as at least three people, including two children, died in a Russian air attack on Kyiv on the night of 31 May to 1 June.
The NATO Secretary General recalled that the Alliance was working on a multi-year support programme for Ukraine, “with robust funding”, which would guarantee Ukraine’s deterrence and defence in the long term, help rebuild its security and defence sector and ensure the transition from Soviet-era doctrines, equipment and training to full interoperability with NATO.
The Allies also discussed the evolution of the current NATO-Ukraine Commission into a new NATO-Ukraine Council, which would establish a joint consultative forum with Ukraine, where all would sit at the table on an equal footing.
Continued work on Sweden’s accession
Mr Stoltenberg also confirmed that he was working “hard” to ensure that Sweden’s accession to NATO was completed as quickly as possible. He announced that he intended to visit Turkey “in the near future”, and welcomed the entry into force on the same day of new anti-terrorism laws in Sweden. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Mathieu Bion)