President Joe Biden is meeting with other NATO leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, today for a key summit that could change the course of the war in Ukraine and reshape the alliance itself.
The summit kicks off on a somewhat positive note, after Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join NATO after a year of opposition. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the reversal as a “historic step.”
What to know about the NATO summit
- The much-anticipated NATO summit is the centerpiece of Biden's trip, during which alliance leaders will debate the war in Ukraine and revise plans for dealing with Russian aggression.
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived today, when talk of his country joining the alliance remained front and center.
- Biden held talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday ahead of the summit.
- The final leg of the trip will be in Helsinki, where Biden on Thursday is expected to celebrate the expanding alliance, with Finland as the newest member of NATO.
Denmark and 10 other countries to provide Ukraine F-16 training
Denmark's defense minister said today that his country and 10 other NATO allies have agreed to train the Ukrainian air force in the use of F-16 fighter jets.
“It is absolutely crucial that the Ukrainians get the opportunity to defend their airspace. The first step is to train the Ukrainians to be able to fly, service and maintain F-16 aircraft at a basic tactical and technical level," acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said, describing the effort as "large and long-term."
He said the training would commence in late summer and begin with the testing and selection of Ukrainian pilots and personnel. Ultimately, the Ukrainians will learn "the basic skills and prerequisites to fly, service and maintain F-16 aircraft," according to a statement from the Danish Defense Ministry.
Denmark will be joined by the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom in helping to provide Ukraine with a capability Kyiv has long sought.
Biden skipping NATO leader dinner tonight
Biden will not attend tonight's NATO dinner, which never appeared on his schedule but is being attended by other leaders.
Asked why Biden isn't going, a White House official told the traveling press pool that the president has four full days of official business and is preparing for a big speech tomorrow, in addition to another day at the summit.
NATO communique discusses future invitation to Ukraine
There's no new timeline for a future invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, according to a communique from the alliance.
"We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met," it said, echoing Stoltenberg's compromise language from an earlier news conference.
NATO Foreign Ministers will assess Ukraine's progress, and the alliance will "support Ukraine in making these reforms on its path towards future membership."
The communique also emphasized the importance of Ukraine's security to the alliance and reiterated that NATO "does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia."
Zelenskyy softens tone about NATO process at flag ceremony in Vilnius
Though he expressed his frustration earlier in the day at the process for joining the alliance, Zelenskyy said at a flag ceremony in Vilnius today that he had "embarked on a trip here with faith in decision, with faith in partners, with faith in a strong NATO."
The Ukrainian president said he believed that NATO would not "hesitate" or "waste time" as it moved forward and hopefully turn his "faith" into "confidence."
"NATO will give Ukraine security. Ukraine will make the alliance stronger," Zelenskyy said, as he pushed for an avenue for Ukraine to swiftly gain membership.
NATO official: Ukraine has not committed all forces to counteroffensive yet
Ukraine still has not fully committed all its forces to the counteroffensive, according to a NATO official. This means the Ukrainian troop levels seen so far may increase before the counteroffensive ends.
Russia's military also anticipates an attack on Crimea at some point, according to the official. The official says the war is still expected to be "many months" away from ending.
The official also said that NATO cannot confirm Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's whereabouts after the Kremlin said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had met with him. If Prigozhin is in Russia, it indicates that he is protected by a security guarantee, according to the official.
NATO extends invitation to Ukraine, but terms still need to be met
NATO has extended an invitation to Ukraine to join the defense alliance, but only once all 31 members of the alliance have agreed to it and the conditions have been met, Stoltenberg said at a press conference today.
"We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met,” NATO said in an official statement.
In the meantime, Stoltenberg said that allies had reduced the bureaucratic threshold for Ukraine to join NATO. Allies had agreed to remove a step that required a “membership action plan,” a series of programs the applying nation adopts that address political, economic, defense, resource, security and legal issues in preparation for future membership.
"What we have agreed to is a very substantive package with many different elements that helps to move Ukraine closer to NATO,” said Stoltenberg, who emphasized that the alliance had created very practical steps for Ukraine to follow.
He said he would be meeting with Zelenskyy later today, and they would hold the inaugural meeting of the Ukraine-NATO council tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy had claimed it was “unprecedented and absurd” that NATO would not provide a time frame for Ukraine’s accession into the alliance, which Stoltenberg responded to during the press conference.
“If you look at other membership processes, there have not been timelines,” he said. “They are condition based — has always been.”
Zelenskyy arrives at NATO summit
Zelenskyy has arrived at the NATO summit. He is expected to meet with Biden tomorrow.
As the Ukrainian president continues to push for his country's admittance into NATO, he said on Twitter that it is "unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership."
Zelenskyy asserted that the lack of a pathway provides a "window of opportunity" to bargain NATO membership in negotiations with Russia.
"And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror," he said.
Senators at NATO summit back Ukraine, signal possible NATO membership will be determined by the end of the war
A delegation of U.S. senators at the NATO summit today said that they support America's continued assistance to Ukraine under certain conditions and that it's possible for the country to eventually join NATO.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said at a press conference in Vilnius that if other NATO members target the 2% of gross domestic product for defense spending and address deficiencies around that issue, then "there will be sustained support for the war in Ukraine." He added, "There will be sustained support for ending Putin's aspiration for basically re-establishing the Russian empire."
He said there's a path for Ukraine to join NATO, but indicated it could only happen once the conflict is over.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters at the press conference that NATO is "bigger, stronger and more unified than ever" and that Putin's invasion of Ukraine "has revitalized the NATO effort to protect democracy-loving nations, from invaders and war criminals like him."
He added that Ukraine's "future in the NATO alliance depends on the end of this war."
Biden to meet with Erdogan shortly
Biden is set to participate in a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at 11 a.m. ET today.
It comes after Turkey agreed to support Sweden joining NATO after a year of opposing the move.
The meeting is also taking place after the White House said it plans to move ahead with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan said the F-16 deal was in the works before Turkey's announcement to drop opposition to Sweden's membership.
"President Biden has been clear and unequivocal for months that he’s supported the transfer of F-16s to Turkey," Sullivan said to reporters. "That this is in our national interest. It’s in the interest of NATO that Turkey get that capability."
Biden and Erdoğan previously spoke Sunday ahead of the NATO summit.