Zelensky slams 'absurd' lack of timeline for Ukraine's NATO entry

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has hit out at NATO allies for their uncertainty to accept his country to the bloc, as several members, including the United States, have expressed reservations about admitting Kiev to the military alliance.

Zelensky sharply criticized NATO allies Tuesday, saying he would openly discuss his country’s membership bid as a guest at the bloc’s summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius.

"It's unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership," said Zelensky on the Telegram messaging app before joining the gathering.

Referring to "vague wording about 'conditions'" for inviting Ukraine, he said, "It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the alliance."

He made the remarks after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Kiev would get more military aid and security guarantees, an easing of formal conditions to join, as well as a new format of cooperation with the alliance, the so-called NATO-Ukraine Council.

"I expect allies will send a clear, united and positive message on the path towards membership for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.

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NATO backs Kiev in its war against Russia, but many members, including the US and Germany, oppose giving Kiev a timetable for membership.

US President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to meet Zelensky on Wednesday, has said there is no agreement to offer Kiev membership while the war with Russia rages on. He argued that Kiev’s membership could drag NATO directly into the conflict with Russia.

Britain, however, said Ukraine should join the bloc “as quickly as possible,” but only after the conflict with Russia “finishes."

“I totally agree with the United States that we can’t have a new member in the middle of a conflict. That would just import war into the alliance,” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told CNN on Tuesday from the summit.

Meanwhile, the US, Britain, France and Germany have been negotiating over long-term commitments on weapons supplies to reassure Kiev before it joins NATO.

Ukraine was last offered NATO membership back in 2008 on the condition it met the terms set out in an action plan. The country has been involved in a military conflict with Russia since February last year. Ever since, the West has been providing Kiev with military equipment worth tens of billions of dollars.

Russia has repeatedly warned US-led NATO forces against the alliance’s eastward expansion.

Moscow launched the military campaign in Ukraine in February last year, with NATO’s eastward expansion blamed for it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also repeatedly railed against the West for driving NATO's eastward expansion, especially its courting of ex-Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia.

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