Jacques Serais / Photo credit: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
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07:34, July 11, 2023
The NATO summit opens on Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, 35 kilometers from Belarus. A summit with crucial stakes for Ukraine whose counter-offensive on the front is slipping. Volodymyr Zelensky once again hopes for financial and military commitments from other countries but also to see his country soon join the Atlantic Alliance.
The NATO summit opens this Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, with 31 heads of state and government, including Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden, gathered. The question of Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization divides the allies. Joe Biden said in recent days on the CNN news channel that Ukraine “is not ready to be part of it”. However, Volodymyr Zelensky dreams of his country becoming a member of NATO.
A formal and immediate adhesion is unlikely at this stage
15 years after the first promise of integrating his country into the Alliance, the Ukrainian leader is now waiting for guarantees. They would be the assurance for kyiv of never falling into the hands of Moscow. But formal and immediate membership is unlikely at this stage. “If that were the case, we would be at war with Russia,” swept Joe Biden.
Still, the Alliance still has to give pledges to Ukraine to unite against Vladimir Putin. This is why a “NATO-Ukraine” council was put on the agenda for Wednesday and Volodymyr Zelensky is physically expected in Vilnius.
US promises delivery of cluster munitions
If NATO only provides non-lethal aid, several countries, individually, could make long-term arms delivery commitments. The United States has already opened the ball of announcements, promising the delivery of the very controversial cluster bombs. Weapons prohibited by the Oslo Convention, signed among others by France. What to debate within NATO itself…