VILNIUS — It’s one problem down and one to go for the NATO alliance as leaders prepare to meet for a summit in the Lithuanian capital.
Sweden’s troubled membership bid was accepted by Turkey’s president late Monday but the tricky issue of formulating acceptable language on Ukraine’s membership aspirations still hasn’t been agreed.
After intensive talks on the summit communiqué, there was still no final deal on what will be offered to Ukraine, although a senior NATO diplomat said: “We have made very good progress and I am 100 percent optimistic.”
Officials negotiating the language on Ukraine are now expected to reconvene on Tuesday, the same day leaders will begin their two-day meeting.
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“I believe it is coming together — it is very close,” said a second senior NATO diplomat, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy upped the pressure on the alliance on Monday, demanding that NATO send a clear signal his country will join once the war with Russia is over.
“Even if different positions are voiced, it is still clear that Ukraine deserves to be in the Alliance. Not now — there is a war, but we need a clear signal. And we need this signal right now,” Zelenskyy said.
Kyiv’s bid to join NATO after hostilities are over has widespread backing among alliance members, but has run into resistance from Germany and the United States. While all allies formally agree Ukraine will become a member one day, Berlin and Washington are hesitant about offering Ukraine a concrete path to membership, preferring to focus on Kyiv’s immediate needs to battle the Russian invasion.
“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,” U.S President Joe Biden told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday. He added that if Ukraine were a NATO member, “We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
A senior German official said earlier on Monday: “The time is not right at this summit for an invitation to Ukraine, for concrete steps toward membership. There is no consensus on this among the allies either.”
Biden, who arrived in Vilnius on Monday, plans to meet with Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
Alliance leaders will be able to give their full attention to Ukraine on Tuesday after another big problem — Sweden’s stalled bid for NATO membership — was resolved after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised to put the issue to Turkey’s parliament.
Hans von der Burchard contributed reporting.
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