NATO summit: Ukraine's Zelenskiy says lack of timeframe for membership 'absurd'
World
NATO summit: Ukraine's Zelenskiy says lack of timeframe for membership 'absurd'
VILNIUS (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it would be "absurd" if NATO leaders gathering for a summit on Tuesday did not offer his country a timeframe for membership, after the alliance head said it would send Kyiv a "positive message".
Kyiv is pushing to be swiftly allowed into the Western alliance, bound together by mutual security guarantees. But divisions among NATO's 31 members mean there will not be a date or straightforward invitation for Ukraine to join.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Kyiv 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 on arriving to the talks he was due to host.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan also said the gathering would send a "positive signal" about Kyiv's membership bid.
Zelenskiy, however, spoke against what he saw as weak wording around Ukraine's bid for NATO membership.
"It's unprecedented and absurd when a timeframe is not set, neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership," he said on the Telegram messaging app before joining the summit as a special guest.
The summit, in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, is taking place as Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive, which began last month, proceeds more slowly than hoped.
Amid several pledges of more military aid, French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would start supplying long-range missiles to help Ukraine hit back against Russian forces who invaded in February 2022.
"I have decided to increase deliveries of weapons and equipment to enable the Ukrainians to have the capacity to strike deeply," Macron said on arrival at the summit.
