Turkey gives the green light to Nordic NATO bids

More than 40 leaders will gather overnight Wednesday for what a ‘pivotal summit’ for the alliance’s future.

Rescuers clear rubble from the Amstor mall in Kremenchuk on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

The Ukraine war will take centre stage at a NATO summit in Madrid, while Finland and Sweden will be formally invited to join the alliance after Turkey dropped its opposition.

Four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, upending the ­European security landscape, more than 40 leaders will gather overnight on Wednesday for what NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called a “pivotal summit” for the alliance’s future.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak twice via videolink, as Kyiv pushes for accelerated weapons deliveries from its allies.

NATO countries, which have already committed billions of dollars in military assistance to Kyiv, will agree on a “comprehensive assistance package to Ukraine, to help them uphold the right for self-defence”, said Mr Stoltenberg. “It is extremely important that we are ready to continue to provide support because Ukraine now faces brutality which we haven’t seen in Europe since the Second World War.”

At the end of a G7 summit in Germany, French President ­Emmanuel Macron urged NATO allies to show they were united.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge his NATO allies to boost their defence spending in response to Russia’s invasion “to restore deterrence and ensure defence in the decade ahead”, his office said.

Beyond Ukraine, the summit will see a revamp of NATO’s strategic concept – not been revised since 2010 – to mention challenges posed by China for the first time.

Finland and Sweden will be invited to join the alliance at the summit after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan overnight on Tuesday lifted his opposition following talks in Madrid with the leaders of the Nordic countries.

Mr Erdogan had refused to back the applications from the Nordic pair – lodged in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine – despite pressure for a change of course from his NATO allies.

Mr Erdogan’s office said it had agreed to support them as Ankara had “got what it wanted”.

Ankara had accused Finland, and especially Sweden, of offering a safe haven to Kurdish militants waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

US President Joe Biden congratulated Turkey, Finland and Sweden on reaching an agreement. “As we begin this historic NATO summit in Madrid, our alliance is stronger, more united and more resolute than ever,” he said.

It will still take months for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, as their entry into the alliance needs to be ratified by the parliaments of the 30 member states.

The summit comes as war rages across Ukraine, particularly in the eastern Donbas region where Moscow has been focusing its offensive after failing to capture Kyiv in the conflict’s early days. There was global outrage on Monday after a missile strike on the Amstor shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people and injured dozens. Russia claims its missile salvo was aimed at an arms depot but civilians in Kremenchuk knew nothing of any weapons store in the neighbourhood.

“Everything burned, really everything, like a spark to a touchpaper. I heard people screaming. It was horror,” witness Polina Puchintseva said.

All that was left of the mall was charred debris, chunks of blackened walls and lettering from a smashed storefront.

“Only total insane terrorists, who should have no place on Earth, can strike missiles at civilian objects,” said Mr Zelensky on his social media channels.

“Russia must be recognised as a state sponsor of terrorism. The world can and therefore must stop Russian terror.”

Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky called for the UN to visit the site so they could independently assess whether the destruction was caused by a Russian missile strike.

At their summit in Germany, G7 leaders agreed to impose new sanctions targeting Moscow’s defence industry, raising tariffs and banning gold imports from the country. The Kremlin was unfazed, insisting Ukrainian forces had to surrender to end the fighting. “The Ukrainian side can stop everything before the end of today,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “An order for the nationalist units to lay down their arms is necessary,” he said, adding Kyiv had to fulfil a list of Moscow’s demands.

AFP