Thirdly, the allied leaders “will reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, said Stoltenberg, who expressed his belief that “they will be united in terms of the way to bring Ukraine closer to its goal”. The 31 allies are still working on the summit declaration, as the secretary general admitted, as there are indeed differences of opinion between the countries on the issue of Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance. The idea is to build on the language used at the Bucharest summit in 2008, when the allies said both Ukraine and Georgia would become NATO members but failed to set a timetable for that, according to allied sources. Biden: Ukraine is not ready to become a member of NATO. American President Joe Biden said on Friday, in a statement made to the CNN television station, that he does not believe that Ukraine is ready to become a member of NATO, according to the DP. “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO on whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family right now, in the midst of war. If the war continues, then we are all at war. We would be at war with Russia if this happened,” Biden emphasised, referring to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which stipulates that an armed attack against one or more NATO member countries, in Europe or North America, will be considered an attack against all parties. The adviser on national security issues at the White House, Jake Sullivan, said much the same thing previously, arguing that the Vilnius summit “will be an important moment on the path to membership”, but that Ukraine “still needs to take some steps”. For his part, writes EFE, Zelenskiy is aware that NATO will not accept a country at war, but the Ukrainian president will continue to put specific pressure on some allies so that they agree to the granting of “guarantees of security” by Kiev, which, according to some diplomatic sources, will focus on the continuation of the long-term supply of weapons, on military training, and, if possible, on the sharing of secret information. In any case, these “guarantees”, since they are bilateral issues of certain countries allied with Ukraine that are dealt with outside NATO, are not directly related to the summit. In fact, these agreements on guarantees could be concluded after the Vilnius meeting of the allies. NATO, as an organisation, does not provide weapons to Ukraine but provides medical equipment, fuel, pontoon bridges, demining equipment, or support for the security and defence sectors, for which 500 million euros have already been agreed, Stoltenberg recalled. At the summit, allies plan to strengthen the Alliance’s deterrence and defence by adopting three new regional defence plans to counter the two main threats identified by NATO: Russia and terrorism. The plans will have the support of 300,000 soldiers on alert and significant air and naval combat capabilities. The allies are also expected to approve a defence production action plan to “enhance capability and increase interoperability.” In addition, allied leaders will give the green light to a new defence investment commitment of “minimum” 2 percent of gross domestic product, Stoltenberg said, a threshold that 11 countries are expected to reach this year, according to the latest expenditure estimates published by the Alliance on Friday. The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea, as well as the European Commission and the European Council, will also participate in the summit. The issue of Sweden’s entry into the Alliance, which Hungary and Turkey have not yet ratified, and on which Stoltenberg will have a meeting in Vilnius on Monday, July 10, with the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

By Roberto Casseli