‘Weakness’: Volodymyr Zelenskyy slams NATO leaders’ agreement about Ukraine
Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Joe Biden have met at the NATO summit after the Ukrainian President called out the alliance’s leaders over their alleged “weakness”.
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US President Joe Biden hailed Ukraine’s “astounding” courage in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who set aside earlier frustrations with NATO to profusely thank the United States for its help.
“You set an example to the whole world when it comes to genuine courage,” Mr Biden told Mr Zelenskyy in Vilnius, where they attended the NATO summit, on Wednesday.
“Not only all of you but your people - your sons, your daughters, your husbands, your wives, your friends: you’re incredible.”
Mr Biden said that Russia’s military, which launched its devastating invasion of swaths of Ukraine last year, was acting “like something out of the 14th century.”
Following tensions at the Vilnius summit over NATO’s rejection of Ukrainian pressure to be given accelerated membership in the alliance, Mr Biden acknowledged the “frustration” sometimes felt by Mr Zelenskyy.
“But I promise you: the United States is doing everything we can to get you what you need as rapidly as we can get it to you,” Mr Biden said.
Mr Biden highlighted commitments announced Wednesday by the G7 group of wealthy democracies to provide Ukraine extended military and economic support while its NATO bid is held up by the war against Russian invasion.
“The bad news is we’re not going anywhere. You’re stuck with us,” Mr Biden joked. Mr Zelenskyy, who caused a stir on Tuesday with an angry tweet criticizing NATO’s refusal to set a clear membership timeline, went out of his way at the meeting with Biden to express gratitude for the massive US support during the war.
“It’s huge support. I understand that it’s all your money. But you have to know that you spend this money not just for fighting, you spend this money for our lives and I think that we save the lives for Europe and for all the world,” Mr Zelenskyy said, speaking in occasionally broken English.
“Thank you very much that all these days you are with us. I mean, you and Americans, all of Americans, and Congress... (were) shoulder to shoulder with us from the first days of full-scale war. We appreciate for this very much.”
“Thank you for acknowledging the American people,” Mr Biden responded, noting that the US had given far more than any other Western nation in weapons and funds to support Ukraine.
Signalling the drop in tensions, Mr Biden answered in place of Mr Zelenskyy when a reporter asked how long it should be before Ukraine was admitted to NATO, joking: “An hour and 20 minutes.”
Washington says Ukraine can’t enter NATO while it is at war, because that would trigger the alliance’s collective defense clause and immediate war between the US and Russia.
‘WEAKNESS’: ZELENSKYY SLAMS NATO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has slammed NATO leaders for saying that they will invite Ukraine to become a member when certain conditions are reached.
“We also made clear that we will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met,” alliance head Jens Stoltenberg told journalists after talks at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on Tuesday.
But Mr Zelenskyy tore into NATO leaders including US President Joe Biden for not immediately extending membership to his war-torn country — introducing fresh diplomatic drama into the annual gathering of the military alliance’s leaders.
Mr Zelenskyy slammed the reticence as “weakness” and “absurd” just moments after Mr Biden referred to the development of new non-public language laying out steps for NATO ascension.
“Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine. And I would like to emphasize that this wording is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine’s membership,” Mr Zelenskyy tweeted.
“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.”
“It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance. This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia,” Mr Zelenskyy continued.
“And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror. Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”
The Ukrainian leader arrived in Vilnius Tuesday afternoon and delivered a speech alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda arguing for his country’s inclusion.
“This, the flag from Bakhmut means that Lithuanians will not be fighting Russian soldiers — not in Vilnius, not anywhere in your cities and towns,” he said.
“This, our flag, means that it will never happen — the deportations from Baltic states to Siberia and the dividing of Poland and there won’t be tanks in Prague and a Winter War against Finland. No more occupations in Europe, no more insulting the Hungarians.”
‘NIGHTMARE’: MAJOR BLOW FOR RUSSIA
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago, Moscow has seen the US-led NATO military alliance expand to 15 European countries.
For Russia, the bloc has deliberately encroached on Moscow’s doorstep and emerged as the most serious external military threat in decades.
Preventing Kyiv from joining was one reason Russian President Vladimir Putin gave for his country’s all-out assault on Ukraine in February 2022.
And if Ukraine is put on the path to NATO membership at the bloc’s summit this week, it would realise a nightmare for Moscow – Ukraine, a once “brotherly nation,” joining the alliance.
“The deployment of NATO military infrastructure close to Russia’s borders is seen in Moscow as a real threat for the security of the country,” Georgy Bovt, a political expert, told AFP.
“Yesterday they bombed Belgrade, tomorrow they’ll bomb Smolensk,” said the expert, characterising Russia’s official thinking.
NATO strikes on Belgrade in 1999 during the Kosovo War shocked Russia and became a turning point in ties with the alliance which had started on a better footing.
‘IT’S FRIGHTENING’
After the end of the Cold War, Russia in 1994 joined the Partnership for Peace program, an initiative aimed at fostering co-operation between NATO and countries in the former Soviet bloc.
Almost three decades later, the alliance has deployed military contingents in eight countries in Central and Eastern Europe, four of which border Russia.
Russia also says that NATO leaders betrayed a promise not to expand the body after the fall of the Soviet Union – a mantra frequently repeated by Russian President Vladimir Putin for years.
Following Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s call this month for NATO to establish permanent military bases near Russia’s border, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “Europeans do not understand the mistake they are making”.
The Kremlin has said it will be “carefully monitoring” the Vilnius summit. In central Moscow 22-year-old English teacher Anastasia Galantseva echoed concerns from the Kremlin.
“It’s frightening,” she told AFP, referring to NATO’s expansion. “And it’s honestly not known how events will develop further. But I want to believe that it will end peacefully,” she said.
Even though Ukraine is unlikely to be invited to join NATO, the summit “will be another step towards Ukraine’s NATO membership,” Bovt said.
As a result, the expert said that Russia now will “no longer have any reason to put an end to its military operations” aimed at preventing such a scenario.
“And, vice versa, as long as the war continues, Ukraine will not be accepted into NATO,” he said.
Sweden instead is due to join imminently after the last hold-outs, Hungary and Turkey, gave their consent to membership despite their close ties with Moscow.
It will follow Finland, which joined in April, in a move doubling NATO’s border with Russia to 2,500 kilometres.
The decision to allow in the new members risks plunging relations between Moscow and Ankara, even more so after Mr Zelenskyy returned from a visit to Turkey over the weekend with five Ukrainian military commanders.
– With AFP
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