Zelenskyy says NATO’s ‘absurd’ plans for Ukraine fall short

This story has been updated as of 1145am EDT.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders agreed Tuesday to allow Ukraine to join “when allies agree and conditions are met,” the head of the military alliance said, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskky blasted the organization’s failure to set a timetable for his country as “absurd.”

“We reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, referring to a key step in joining the alliance.

“This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path,” he said.

Although many NATO members have funneled arms and ammunition to Zelenskky’s forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for admitting Ukraine into NATO’s ranks. Instead, the alliance leaders decided to remove obstacles on Ukraine’s membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.

Zelenskyy pushed back sharply against the decision.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy tweeted as he headed to the summit. “While at the same time, vague wording about ‘conditions’ 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.”

Asked about Zelenskky’s concerns, Stoltenberg said that the most important thing now is to ensure that his country wins the war, because “unless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all.”

The broadside from Zelenskyy could renew tensions at the summit shortly after it saw a burst of goodwill after Turkey agreed to advance Sweden’s 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.

Officials have drafted a proposal, which has not been publicly released, on Ukraine’s potential membership. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support during a meeting with Stoltenberg, but Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that he was not satisfied.

“We value our allies,” he said but added that “Ukraine also deserves respect.”

He also said: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”

Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Biden and other NATO leaders on Wednesday.

There have been sharp divisions within the alliance over Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, which was promised back in 2008 even though few steps were taken toward that goal.

Stoltenberg wrote in Foreign Affairs on Monday that the alliance would “upgrade our political ties” by forming a NATO-Ukraine Council, which would be “a platform for decisions and crisis consultation.”

In addition, the Baltic states — including Lithuania, which is hosting the summit — have pushed for a strong show of support and a clear pathway toward membership for Ukraine.

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 “meet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues,” a nod toward longstanding concerns about governance and corruption in Kyiv.

In addition, some fear that bringing Ukraine into NATO would serve more as a provocation to Russia than as a deterrence against aggression.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said allies were debating the “precise nature” of Ukraine’s pathway to membership. However, he promised that the summit would demonstrate how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes for fractures within NATO will go unfulfilled.

The dispute over Ukraine stands in contrast to a hard-fought agreement to advance Sweden’s membership. The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it’s poised to expand the alliance’s strength in Northern Europe.

“Rumors of the death of NATO’s unity were greatly exaggerated,” Sullivan told reporters triumphantly on Tuesday.

According to a joint statement issued when the deal was announced, Erdogan will ask Turkey’s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another holdout, is expected to take a similar step. Hungary’s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership was now just a “technical matter.” Erdogan has not yet commented publicly.

The outcome is a victory as well for Biden, who has touted NATO’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow.

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.

Because of the deal on Sweden’s membership, “this summit is already historic before it has started,” Stoltenberg said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that NATO’s expansion is “one of the reasons that led to the current situation.”

“It looks like the Europeans don’t understand their mistake,” Peskov said. He warned against putting Ukraine on a fast track for NATO membership.

“Potentially it’s very dangerous for the European security, it carries very big risks,” Peskov said.

Biden and Erdogan were scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, and it was unclear how some of the Turkish president’s 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’s membership in NATO.

“I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,” Biden said in a statement late Monday.

The phrasing was a nod to Biden’s commitment to help Turkey acquire new F-16 fighter jets, according to an administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The Biden administration has backed Turkey’s desire to buy 40 new F-16s as well as modernization kits from the U.S. It’s 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.

In Washington, Menendez said he was “continuing to have my reservations” on providing the fighter aircraft to Turkey. If the Biden administration could show that Turkey wouldn’t use the F-16s belligerently against other NATO members, particularly its neighbor Greece, and meet other conditions, “then there may be a way forward,” Menendez told reporters.

Biden is on a five-day trip to Europe, with the NATO summit as its centerpiece.

The president spent Monday in the United Kingdom, meeting at Windsor Castle with King Charles III and in London with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

He met Tuesday with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, emphasizing his commitment to transatlantic cooperation, before he joined the NATO gathering.

“Nothing happens here that doesn’t affect us,” 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.

After the summit ends Wednesday, Biden will travel to Helsinki. On Thursday, he will celebrate Finland’s recent entry into NATO and meet with Nordic leaders.

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.

本文已于美国东部时间上午11点45分更新。

立陶宛维尔纽斯（美联社）——北约领导人周二同意允许乌克兰加入北约，“前提是盟国同意且条件得到满足”，该军事联盟的领导人表示。此前数小时，乌克兰总统泽连斯基抨击北约未能为乌克兰制定加入北约的时间表是“荒谬的”。

北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格告诉记者：“我们重申乌克兰将成为北约成员国，并同意取消成员国行动计划的要求。”他指的是加入北约的关键一步。

“这将使乌克兰的入盟之路从两步走变成一步走，”他说。

尽管许多北约成员国向泽连斯基的部队输送了武器弹药，但31个盟国在接​​纳乌克兰加入北约的问题上并未达成共识。相反，联盟领导人决定清除乌克兰入盟道路上的障碍，以便乌克兰在与俄罗斯的战争结束后能够更快地加入北约。

泽连斯基强烈反对这一决定。

泽连斯基在前往峰会的途中发推文称：“邀请乌克兰加入北约，以及乌克兰加入北约，都没有设定时间表，这史无前例，荒谬至极。与此同时，就连邀请乌克兰加入北约的条件也含糊其辞。看来，北约根本没有诚意邀请乌克兰加入，也没有做好接纳乌克兰成为北约成员国的准备。”

当被问及泽连斯基的担忧时，斯托尔滕贝格表示，现在最重要的是确保他的国家赢得战争，因为“除非乌克兰取得胜利，否则根本无法讨论成员国资格问题”。

泽连斯基的这番强硬言论可能会在峰会上再次引发紧张局势。此前不久，土耳其同意推进瑞典加入北约的申请，峰会一度展现出积极的氛围。盟国希望能够结束陷入僵局的谈判，并为联盟及其对乌克兰的支持开辟一条清晰的道路。

官员们已起草了一份关于乌克兰加入欧盟的提案，但尚未公开。美国总统拜登在与斯托尔滕贝格会晤时表示支持，但泽连斯基在推特上表示他并不满意。

他说：“我们珍视我们的盟友”，但他补充说，“乌克兰也值得尊重”。

他还表示：“不确定性是一种弱点。我将在峰会上公开讨论这个问题。”

泽连斯基预计将于周三与拜登和其他北约领导人会面。

联盟内部对于乌克兰加入北约的愿望存在严重分歧，尽管早在 2008 年就承诺过乌克兰会加入北约，但朝着这个目标却鲜有进展。

斯托尔滕贝格周一在《外交事务》杂志上撰文称，北约将通过成立北约-乌克兰理事会来“提升我们的政治关系”，该理事会将成为“决策和危机磋商的平台”。

此外，包括峰会东道国立陶宛在内的波罗的海国家一直力促乌克兰展现强烈的支持，并为其加入欧盟制定明确的途径。

然而，美国和德国敦促保持谨慎。拜登上周表示，乌克兰尚未做好加入北约的准备。他告诉CNN，北约成员国需要“满足所有条件，从民主化到一系列其他问题”，这显然是在回应长期以来人们对基辅治理和腐败问题的担忧。

此外，一些人担心，让乌克兰加入北约与其说是威慑侵略，不如说是对俄罗斯的挑衅。

白宫国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文表示，盟国正在讨论乌克兰加入北约的具体途径。但他承诺，此次峰会将表明，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京企图在北约内部制造分裂的愿望将落空。

围绕乌克兰问题的争端与瑞典加入欧盟来之不易的协议形成鲜明对比。该协议是在经过数日密集磋商后达成的，有望增强欧盟在北欧的实力。

“有关北约团结已死的传言被大大夸大了，”苏利文周二得意洋洋地告诉记者。

根据宣布该协议时发表的联合声明，埃尔多安将要求土耳其议会批准瑞典加入北约。

匈牙利总理欧尔班是另一位尚未批准瑞典加入北约的领导人，预计他将采取类似举措。匈牙利外交部长周二表示，匈牙利批准瑞典加入北约如今只是一个“技术性问题”。埃尔多安尚未公开置评。

这一结果对拜登来说也是一场胜利，他一直吹捧北约的扩张，以此证明俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的行动最终适得其反。

芬兰已成为该联盟的第31个成员国，瑞典也即将成为第32个成员国。这两个北欧国家在历史上一直奉行不结盟政策，直到战争加剧了对俄罗斯侵略的担忧。

斯托尔滕贝格表示，由于瑞典加入欧盟的协议，“这次峰会在开始之前就已经具有历史意义了”。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫告诉记者，北约的扩张是“导致当前局势的原因之一”。

佩斯科夫说：“看来欧洲人并没有意识到他们的错误。”他警告不要让乌克兰走上加入北约的快速通道。

佩斯科夫说：“这可能对欧洲安全非常危险，蕴含着巨大的风险。”

拜登和埃尔多安原定于周二晚间会面，但目前尚不清楚土耳其总统提出的其他一些要求将如何解决。他一直寻求获得美国先进的战斗机，并希望加入欧盟。白宫已表示支持这两项诉求，但公开坚称这些问题与瑞典加入北约无关。

拜登周一晚间在一份声明中表示：“我随时准备与埃尔多安总统和土耳其合作，加强欧洲-大西洋地区的防御和威慑。”

一位未获授权公开评论的政府官员表示，这种措辞是对拜登帮助土耳其获得新型 F-16 战斗机的承诺的认可。

拜登政府支持土耳其从美国购买 40 架新的 F-16 战斗机以及现代化套件的愿望。国会中的一些人，尤其是参议院外交关系委员会主席鲍勃·梅嫩德斯 (DN.J.)，反对这一举动，理由是土耳其阻止瑞典加入北约、其人权记录以及其他方面的担忧。

在华盛顿，梅嫩德斯表示，他对向土耳其提供战斗机“仍然有所保留”。他告诉记者，如果拜登政府能够证明土耳其不会将F-16战机用于对其他北约成员国，特别是其邻国希腊，进行挑衅性攻击，并且满足其他条件，“那么或许还有解决的办法”。

拜登正在对欧洲进行为期五天的访问，北约峰会是此次访问的重头戏。

总统周一在英国度过，在温莎城堡会见了查尔斯三世国王，并在伦敦会见了首相里希·苏纳克。

周二，他在参加北约会议之前会见了立陶宛总统吉塔纳斯·瑙塞达，强调了他对跨大西洋合作的承诺。

“这里发生的一切都与我们息息相关，”拜登对瑙塞达说道。白宫表示，瑙塞达向拜登颁发了维陶塔斯大帝勋章，这是立陶宛总统可以授予的最高荣誉。拜登是首位获此殊荣的美国总统。

峰会于周三结束后，拜登将前往赫尔辛基。周四，他将庆祝芬兰加入北约，并会见北欧领导人。

美联社驻华盛顿记者 Aamer Madhani、Zeke Miller、Lisa Mascaro 和 Darlene Superville，驻匈牙利布达佩斯记者 Justin Spike，以及驻立陶宛维尔纽斯记者 Lorne Cook 对本报道亦有贡献。