This story has been updated as of 1145am EDT.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) \u2014 NATO leaders agreed Tuesday to allow Ukraine to join \u201cwhen allies agree and conditions are met,\u201d the head of the military alliance said, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskky blasted the organization\u2019s failure to set a timetable for his country as \u201cabsurd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan,\u201d NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, referring to a key step in joining the alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis will change Ukraine\u2019s membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although many NATO members have funneled arms and ammunition to Zelenskky\u2019s forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for admitting Ukraine into NATO\u2019s ranks. Instead, the alliance leaders decided to remove obstacles on Ukraine\u2019s membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyy pushed back sharply against the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine\u2019s membership,\u201d Zelenskyy tweeted as he headed to the summit. \u201cWhile at the same time, vague wording about \u2018conditions\u2019 is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness to invite Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the Alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about Zelenskky\u2019s concerns, Stoltenberg said that the most important thing now is to ensure that his country wins the war, because \u201cunless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broadside from Zelenskyy could renew tensions at the summit shortly after it saw a burst of goodwill after Turkey agreed to advance Sweden\u2019s bid to join NATO. Allies hope to resolve the seesawing negotiations and create a clear path forward for the alliance and its support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials have drafted a proposal, which has not been publicly released, on Ukraine\u2019s potential membership. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support during a meeting with Stoltenberg, but Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that he was not satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe value our allies,\u201d he said but added that \u201cUkraine also deserves respect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also said: \u201cUncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden and other NATO leaders on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been sharp divisions within the alliance over Ukraine\u2019s desire to join NATO, which was promised back in 2008 even though few steps were taken toward that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stoltenberg wrote in Foreign Affairs on Monday that the alliance would \u201cupgrade our political ties\u201d by forming a NATO-Ukraine Council, which would be \u201ca platform for decisions and crisis consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, the Baltic states \u2014 including Lithuania, which is hosting the summit \u2014 have pushed for a strong show of support and a clear pathway toward membership for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the United States and Germany urged caution. Biden said last week that Ukraine was not ready to join. Members of NATO, he told CNN, need to \u201cmeet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues,\u201d a nod toward longstanding concerns about governance and corruption in Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, some fear that bringing Ukraine into NATO would serve more as a provocation to Russia than as a deterrence against aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said allies were debating the \u201cprecise nature\u201d of Ukraine\u2019s pathway to membership. However, he promised that the summit would demonstrate how Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s hopes for fractures within NATO will go unfulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dispute over Ukraine stands in contrast to a hard-fought agreement to advance Sweden\u2019s membership. The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it\u2019s poised to expand the alliance\u2019s strength in Northern Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRumors of the death of NATO\u2019s unity were greatly exaggerated,\u201d Sullivan told reporters triumphantly on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a joint statement issued when the deal was announced, Erdogan will ask Turkey\u2019s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another holdout, is expected to take a similar step. Hungary\u2019s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country\u2019s ratification of Sweden\u2019s NATO membership was now just a \u201ctechnical matter.\u201d Erdogan has not yet commented publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The outcome is a victory as well for Biden, who has touted NATO\u2019s expansion as an example of how Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically nonaligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of the deal on Sweden\u2019s membership, \u201cthis summit is already historic before it has started,\u201d Stoltenberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that NATO\u2019s expansion is \u201cone of the reasons that led to the current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt looks like the Europeans don\u2019t understand their mistake,\u201d Peskov said. He warned against putting Ukraine on a fast track for NATO membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPotentially it\u2019s very dangerous for the European security, it carries very big risks,\u201d Peskov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden and Erdogan were scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, and it was unclear how some of the Turkish president\u2019s other demands will be resolved. He has been seeking advanced American fighter jets and a path toward membership in the European Union. The White House has expressed support for both, but publicly insisted that the issues were not related to Sweden\u2019s membership in NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,\u201d Biden said in a statement late Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The phrasing was a nod to Biden\u2019s commitment to help Turkey acquire new F-16 fighter jets, according to an administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Biden administration has backed Turkey\u2019s desire to buy 40 new F-16s as well as modernization kits from the U.S. It\u2019s a move some in Congress, most notably Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J, have opposed over Turkey blocking NATO membership for Sweden, its human rights record and other concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Washington, Menendez said he was \u201ccontinuing to have my reservations\u201d on providing the fighter aircraft to Turkey. If the Biden administration could show that Turkey wouldn\u2019t use the F-16s belligerently against other NATO members, particularly its neighbor Greece, and meet other conditions, \u201cthen there may be a way forward,\u201d Menendez told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden is on a five-day trip to Europe, with the NATO summit as its centerpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president spent Monday in the United Kingdom, meeting at Windsor Castle with King Charles III and in London with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He met Tuesday with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, emphasizing his commitment to transatlantic cooperation, before he joined the NATO gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNothing happens here that doesn\u2019t affect us,\u201d Biden told Nauseda. The White House said Nauseda presented Biden with the Order of Vytautas the Great, the highest award a Lithuanian president can bestow. Biden is the first U.S. president to receive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the summit ends Wednesday, Biden will travel to Helsinki. On Thursday, he will celebrate Finland\u2019s recent entry into NATO and meet with Nordic leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, Lisa Mascaro and Darlene Superville in Washington, Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, and Lorne Cook in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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