Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO Summit, Vilnius (NATO)
VILNIUS — The NATO nations have formally declined to put a timetable on Ukraine’s ability to join the military alliance, in an official Communiqué spelling out consensus among the 31 members.
While the agreement comes with a number of gifts to Ukraine, including the promise to waive standard requirements for NATO membership in the future, it falls well short of the goal set by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that NATO members lay out a clear path forward for his country to join the alliance.
The Communiqué does guarantee that the alliance will waive the standard Membership Application Plan (MAP) for Ukraine whenever it is decided Kyiv is ready to join, a move that should speed a Ukrainian membership process. But it also notes only that an invitation will be offered when “Allies agree and conditions are met.”
That phrasing would seem to be aimed at appeasing NATO members uncomfortable with Ukraine’s political reform or their own security priorities, but is likely to do little to calm Zelenskyy, who earlier today blasted the conditions being placed on Ukraine’s potential membership as “unprecedented and absurd.” (The alliance has historically not allowed states to join while in active conflict.)
“We reaffirm the commitment we made at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will become a member of NATO, and today we recognise that Ukraine’s path to full Euro-Atlantic integration has moved beyond the need for the Membership Action Plan,” states the Communiqué, unveiled at the NATO Heads of State Summit today. “Ukraine has become increasingly interoperable and politically integrated with the Alliance, and has made substantial progress on its reform path.”
Other important developments outlined in the Communiqué had previously been signposted by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, including the formation of a NATO-Ukraine Council, designed to “advance political dialogue, engagement, cooperation” between Ukraine and NATO partners and a new multiyear assistance program, delivered under the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) initiative.
“To support Ukraine’s deterrence and defence in the short, medium, and long term, we have agreed today to further develop the CAP into a multi-year programme for Ukraine,” states the communique. “The assistance provided will help rebuild the Ukrainian security and defence sector and transition Ukraine towards full interoperability with NATO.”
Some allies, including Germany and Czech Republic had been vocal about their position on Ukraine membership, united on the idea that membership should only happen after the war ends.
Such logic continues to be tied to an obvious fear that offering membership during war time would compel NATO to invoke Article 5 relating to collective defense and commit all allies to the conflict with Russia.
In relation to Moscow more specifically, the communique accuses it of “gravely” undermining “Euro-Atlantic and global security,” by deciding to invade Ukraine.
“We do not and will never recognise Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexations, including Crimea,” NATO adds. “There can be no impunity for Russian war crimes and other atrocities, such as attacks against civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure that deprives millions of Ukrainians of basic human services.”
