Ukraine and the country’s relationship with NATO were in focus during the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius. Afterwards, the defense alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, spoke about a three-point plan for closer relations between NATO and Ukraine.
– We are starting a multi-year assistance program to raise the training of the Ukrainian army to NATO level, Stoltenberg stated at a press conference, and told that an office has been established where NATO and Ukraine can meet and discuss as equals.
NATO countries have also agreed to shorten and simplify Ukraine’s application process.
– We have also removed the requirement for a membership plan, in order to change Ukraine’s path into NATO from a two-step process to one step, Jens Stoltenberg said.
Zelenskyi on NATO’s decision: “Absurd”
The Secretary General’s message after the meeting will disappoint Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, believes Peter Lindén, Sweden’s former defense attaché in Ukraine.
– From the meeting itself, one might have hoped for a more direct statement regarding Ukraine. Ukraine is allergic to this condition. Because that means that even when they have won, they can be faced with a checklist of unattainable goals, he says.
In a longer post on Twitter wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who has been invited to the summit, that he has received signals that certain wordings concerning the invitation to a future Ukrainian membership are being discussed without Ukraine.
He writes that it is “absurd”, as no time frame has been set “while adding vague wording about ‘conditions'”.