By Alexandra Brzozowski and Aurélie Pugnet

In a carefully phrased summit communique, NATO leaders did not answer Ukraine’s plea for a clear commitment on when and under what circumstances Kyiv would join the Western military alliance on Tuesday (11 July) at their Vilnius summit.

The Vilnius declaration does not bear a date or straightforward invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance as Kyiv had initially hoped for.

“We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when allies agree and conditions are met,” NATO leaders agreed in their Vilnius summit communiqué.

Asked by reporters what those conditions for membership would entail, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg did not provide any details.

The conditions were not spelt out because NATO leaders could not agree as to what they should entail, according to diplomatic sources involved in the discussions.

In substance, the text does not go further in language than the 2008 Bucharest Declaration where members “agree[d] Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, several NATO leaders said.

NATO leaders said they “will continue to support and review Ukraine’s progress on interoperability as well as additional democratic and security sector reforms that are required”.

They also agreed to waive the requirement for Kyiv to follow a Member Action Plan (MAP), in what many NATO diplomats see a ‘gesture’ to remove as many hurdles in the accession process as possible.Stoltenberg told reporters this commitment would streamline the accession process and make Ukraine’s membership dependent on a political decision only.

“This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step process to a one-step process,” Stoltenberg said.

“There has never been stronger language by NATO on membership,” he added.

A second aspect of the package related to a multi-year military assistance package (UCAP) for Ukraine to help reform its security and defence sector. A third involved setting up a NATO-Ukraine Council to “upgrade” the relationship.

Divisions remain

While Eastern Europeans pushed for an explicit timetable and to clear the path as much as possible, heavyweights like the United States and Germany were reluctant to go beyond the earlier vow that it will, eventually, become a member.

“We have to reach a clear pathway for Ukraine to NATO membership, which is the cheapest security guarantee,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said before the talks.

But the MAP waiver and the blurry membership conditions could help speed up the process, answering the Easterners’ call for a process with few strings attached, two NATO diplomats told EURACTIV.

As NATO members fell short of agreement on membership conditions, they are expected to come back to the matter at a later stage, NATO diplomats say.

Those could resemble the conditions the EU has set out for Ukraine, the so-called seven recommendations, for Kyiv’s accession process to the bloc, two EU officials told reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

“Reforms like anti-corruption or security sector, are also things that you need to undergo when you want to join NATO,” one of the EU officials said.NATO diplomats suggested this should include the need for Ukraine’s armed forces to be interoperable with that of NATO members as well as civilian control of the army, but would also refer to respect for the rule of law and progress in the fight against corruption.

The most important one, however, would be the end of the war in Ukraine and Kyiv’s effective control over its own territory.

US President Joe Biden, who will meet with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, has repeatedly said there is no agreement to offer Kyiv membership while its war with Russia rages, as this would drag NATO directly into the war – a position is supported by a range of NATO members.

“I do not want a World War III,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel told EURACTIV bluntly when asked about the appropriate time for membership.

Ukraine not amused

As NATO leaders and their delegations grappled to find the right words earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit out at an “absurd” lack of timeframe over Kyiv’s NATO membership.

“On the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine – and I would like to emphasise that this wording is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy said.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about “conditions” is added even for inviting Ukraine,” he said.

“This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia – and for Russia, this means the motivation to continue its terror,” Zelenskyy added.

Security guarantees

“Everyone is aware of the difficulty of a country at war joining NATO. What is most important for the moment are the guarantees of security given to the Ukrainians, so that they can reconstitute their territory,” one NATO diplomat told EURACTIV.

“If the war goes on for years, then we’ll see,” they said.Meanwhile, the G7 – Germany, France, Italy, the United States, Canada, Japan and the EU – has been working alongside other countries to craft a separate umbrella declaration that would provide Kyiv with assurances of long-term support.

A European diplomatic source said G7 security guarantees for Ukraine would be announced just before the end or after the NATO summit.

Support would be military assistance, but also financial and political, one person with knowledge of the talks said. Kyiv could sign long-term contracts for arms deliveries in bilateral and multilateral formats.EU leaders at their summit last month pledged the bloc would take part in “security commitments” to Ukraine.

Member states said they “stand ready to contribute, together with partners, to future security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine defend itself in the long term, deter acts of aggression and resist destabilisation efforts” and to “swiftly consider the modalities of such contribution”.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]