Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Wednesday that Ukraine will receive “a lot” from NATO at the summit his country is hosting next week from July 11-12.
NATO members are still debating what new pledges Ukraine will receive at the summit in Vilnius. Kyiv wants a guarantee from NATO that it can join the alliance after the war, but the US and Germany have expressed reluctance to offer that.
“I have a sense that we will find formulations which will not disappoint Ukrainians and will convey more than we are used to saying,” Nauseda said. He added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “might not receive everything he expects in his most ambitious plans, but he will certainly receive a lot.”
A day earlier, Nauseda said NATO should disregard concerns about guarantees for Ukraine provoking Russia. “We should not hesitate to take bolder decisions because otherwise, the Putin regime will decide that the Western allies are too weak,” he said.
Ukraine was first promised that it would eventually become a NATO member at a 2008 summit in Bucharest but was never given a clear timeline. US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told reporters last week that NATO allies feel they will come to an agreement that’s stronger than the promise made in 2008.
“Most of us feel confident that we are going to be able to come to an agreement that will reflect where we are and that the Ukrainians will believe and feel is something above and beyond restating Bucharest,” Smith said.
Source: AntiWar.
