Biden in Europe: NATO to offer Ukraine invitation once ‘conditions are met’

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.

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."

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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram that joining NATO is "one of Ukraine's geopolitical priorities."

"But here and now, the practical support provided by NATO and the member states of the Alliance is also important for us," he wrote. "This help makes our Defense Forces stronger, helps liberate our territories." 

Shmyhal also said that Ukraine "needs NATO as much as NATO needs our country."

The German government today announced at the NATO summit in Vilnius that it has prepared another aid package for Ukraine.

The package includes armored combat vehicles, air defense, 20,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 5,000 rounds of 155 mm smoke ammunition, as well as reconnaissance and anti-drone capabilities.

"I am very pleased that we were able to put together another package to support Ukraine in its defense against the Russian attack here in Vilnius today," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.

He continued, "It serves Ukraine’s priorities: air defense, tanks, artillery. The Vilnius summit package is worth almost 700 million euros. In doing so, we are making an important contribution to strengthening Ukrainian sustainability."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, saying that Germany and the U.S. are "the closest of partners."

In his opening remarks, he reiterated that NATO was "more united than ever" with Finland joining the alliance and Sweden on the verge of ascending.

"More united than ever when it comes to the defense of its member, more united than ever when it comes to the defense of Ukraine faced with this Russia aggression, more united than ever in meeting a whole variety of challenges that we’ve been working on together," Blinken said.

Baerbock said she saw NATO as "life insurance."

Stoltenberg tweeted his thanks to Biden for his "strong leadership" and said the U.S. "plays an indispensable role in European security, including with steadfast support to Ukraine."

He said Biden is keeping NATO "strong and united."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that Ukraine would be “defenseless” if the U.S. had not made the decision to supply cluster munitions to fill a critical gap created by a backlog of conventional weapons.

“The stockpiles around the world and in Ukraine of the unitary munitions, not the cluster munitions, were running out, about to be depleted,” he said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at the NATO summit in Vilnius. “And so, the hard but necessary choice to give them the cluster munitions amounted to this: If we didn’t do it, we don’t do it, then they will run out of ammunition. If they run out of ammunition, then they will be defenseless.”

Many NATO allies have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production and sale of cluster munitions due to the risks they pose to civilians. The United States is not a signatory to the treaty, and neither are Russia and Ukraine.

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Biden shook hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as he lined up to pose for a family photo with other NATO leaders at today's summit.

Moscow understands that Turkey is a NATO member and has its obligations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, a day after Ankara agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join the alliance after a year of opposition. 

Despite the war in Ukraine, Russia has enjoyed a close relationship with Turkey, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan often playing a mediator role in the conflict.

“We have disagreements, we do not hide them either,” Peskov said. “But there is also that part of our relations that absolutely corresponds with the interests of our two countries, which are quite important for us and important for Turkey itself.”

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda welcomed NATO members to Vilnius amid what he called "the most brutal war" being waged by Russia on the alliance's doorstep.

“Today allies are meeting in Vilnius to testify to the importance of collective solidarity and defense,” he said.

Nausėda said freedom has never been taken for granted in his country, which was part of the then-Soviet Union until the end of communism.

"Unity, solidarity and the transatlantic bond are irreplaceable pillars of our success," he added.

Biden said Washington supports NATO language on Ukraine’s path to future membership, appearing to push back on reports of divisions that have roiled the alliance ahead of the annual gathering.

Ukraine is seeking stronger security guarantees from NATO, even as Biden ruled out a pathway to membership while the war is ongoing. But the president today said details of a potential future pathway could soon come into view.

“We agree with the language you proposed relative to the future of Ukraine joining NATO,” Biden said in brief remarks alongside the NATO secretary-general at the presidential palace in Vilnius. “We’re looking for a continued, united NATO.”

Stoltenberg said today that Ukraine would find a “positive message on the path forward” as it seeks stronger security guarantees. `

Finland’s new foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, said she understands “concerns” over the Biden administration’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns about the risk to civilians.

“I’m not saying it’s a mistake. I do see the concerns relating to that,” she said, calling it an issue between the U.S. and Ukraine. “The principle behind it is clear: Helping Ukraine in defending its country," she said in an interview on the summit's sidelines.

After much speculation around whether he will attend the NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed he will attend to address NATO members in person.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, he said Ukraine will be represented in Vilnius as a sign of "respect" amid uncertainty over whether and how NATO members will offer it a path to join the alliance.

But Zelenskyy was critical of the early discussions, which he said were happening without Ukraine, showing that there is no readiness to either invite it into NATO or to make it a member.

"Incertitude is weakness," he added. "And I will openly discuss this at the summit."

NATO leaders gathered for a family photo, with Stoltenberg standing front and center and Biden at his side.

Also present was Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, who joins today's summit after the Nordic country became the 31st member of NATO earlier this year.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced upon his arrival at the NATO summit that he will supply long-range missiles to Ukraine, allowing Kyiv to strike deeper into its territory held by Russia.

Macron did not say how many missiles would be delivered to Ukraine, or what their range would be. It follows the United Kingdom supplying Kyiv with long-range Storm Shadow missiles in May.

The move was immediately criticized by Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it "an erroneous decision."

He said it was "fraught with consequences for the Ukrainian side because naturally it will force us to take countermeasures," the state news agency Tass reported.

NATO leaders are being officially greeted one at a time as today's summit in Vilnius gets underway.

Finland in April became the 31st member country to join NATO.

Biden welcomed the expansion of NATO as a "historic moment," with both Finland and now, Sweden, joining the alliance.

"This historic moment adding Finland and Sweden to NATO is consequential," Biden said, speaking alongside Stoltenberg at the summit in Vilnius.

Turkey agreed to support Sweden's bid to join NATO after a year of opposition, Stoltenberg said yesterday, while Finland joined the alliance in April.

Ukraine’s fast-track accession to NATO would be potentially very dangerous for European security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today as NATO members gathered in Vilnius for the first day of the summit.

"It holds great dangers," Peskov said during his daily call with reporters. "Those who will make the decision should be aware of this.”

He said Moscow will closely monitor the summit for what he called an "in-depth analysis in order to take measures aimed at ensuring our own security."

Russia is perceived "as an enemy, an adversary" by NATO, Peskov added, and it's in this vein that the discussions at the summit will be held.

Finland’s new foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, said her country supports Ukraine joining NATO “in the future” but that now is not the time to set a firm date. 

In an interview on the summit’s sidelines, she cited a provision in NATO’s founding treaty in 1949 that prohibits a country at war from becoming a member.

“Since in this kind of war, probably the difference between war and peace is not that obvious, it’s very difficult to draw the line at an exact place,” Valtonen said.

Still, she predicted that steps would be taken at the summit to bring Ukraine closer to NATO short of immediate membership. “The most important thing is that we stand by Ukraine’s side and we keep on supporting Ukraine with an increasing pace and also that we can promise security in all levels towards Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” she said, “and also mentally that they can prepare for being NATO members in the future.”

Europe would be the first to face “catastrophic consequences” should the war in Ukraine escalate, a Russian diplomat told the Russian state news agency Ria today.

The comment came as NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania for the summit expected to result in a more clear pathway to membership for Ukraine, something Russia said it was trying to prevent before invading its neighbor last year.

Konstantin Gavrilov, who heads the Russian delegation at the talks on military security and arms control in Vienna, told Ria the escalation of the war in Ukraine is being made more likely by "Washington’s reckless actions."

Moscow has accused NATO countries, led by the U.S., of pumping Ukraine with weapons, blaming the alliance for encouraging Kyiv to fight "till the last Ukrainian" in a battle that the Kremlin has said Ukraine can't win.

NATO will make a strong and united decision on security guarantees for Ukraine during its summit this week and reaffirm that Kyiv will eventually become a member, the alliance’s secretary-general told NBC News today.

Jens Stoltenberg also addressed the United States’ announcement that it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine, a decision that has made many of Washington’s allies uneasy.

“This war has now become actually for many months a war of attrition and a war of attrition is a backlog of logistics,” he said. “Slowly our production is now increasing, ramping up … but the problem is that since we didn’t have big enough stocks in the beginning and since production capacity was not big enough when this war started, it takes some time before we have all the production capacity in place.”

Asked whether the counteroffensive is getting bogged down, and whether he’s concerned it could become a frozen conflict, he said Ukraine is gaining ground but is meeting fierce resistance, with Russia digging in.

Biden and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda discussed Belarus, Russia's closest European ally, during their meeting on the first day of the summit in Vilnius.

Nausėda said Belarus, with which Lithuania shares a border, is getting even closer to Moscow, after President Alexander Lukashenko allowed his country's territory to be used in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this year, Putin also said he would deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Nausėda said Belarus was becoming an “additional factor of insecurity in the region," where he said the security situation is "unfortunately deteriorating."

The British leader boards a plane in London as he heads to Vilnius, where he is to attend the NATO summit today. 

NATO's expansion “sends a very clear message” to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow's invasion of Ukraine was a "big" mistake, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in opening comments at today's summit.

Leaders of the countries that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have pressed for Ukraine’s path to future member membership in the alliance, even as Russia hoped to foreclose the prospect.

“This sends a very clear message to Russia, to President Putin, that NATO’s door remains open,” Stoltenberg said . “He went to war because he wanted less NATO. He’s getting more NATO.” 

Ukraine is seeking security guarantees and assurances of a pathway into the alliance, which has grown to include Finland since the outbreak of the war. A sudden reversal by Turkey on the eve of the summit cleared the path for Sweden’s entry. The progress “also demonstrates that President Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine was a big strategic mistake,” Stoltenberg said.

Russia continued to attack Ukrainian cities with drones on the eve of the NATO summit, Ukrainian officials said.

Drones caused structural damage in an unnamed settlement in the central Kyiv region, but no casualties were reported by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

Officials in the southern port city of Odesa also confirmed several waves of drone attacks overnight. The city's regional wartime administration said 22 drones were destroyed, but two hit an administrative building of the port facility. Two port terminals, including one holding grain, caught fire due to falling debris, it added, but no critical damage or injuries were reported.

Moscow denies striking civilian targets in Ukraine, but it has sent volleys of drones and missiles at residential areas and civilian infrastructure throughout the war.

Biden signs the guest book during a bilateral meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on the sidelines of the NATO summit at the presidential palace in Vilnius today.

It is clear that Ukraine deserves to be in NATO and the country needs a signal that it will eventually become part of the alliance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address last night.

While Kyiv realizes that it won't be able to join while the war is going on, NATO’s eastern flank depends on Ukraine so there is an understanding that the country will eventually become part of NATO.

"We are working to make the algorithm for gaining membership as clear and fast as possible," he added.

Biden and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda during an official welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Vilnius today.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, is preparing for what he said will be an "important day for Ukraine" as NATO leaders assemble in Vilnius for the first day of the summit.

"Today, we are working with our allies on security architecture issues," Yermak said in a post on Telegram, as Kyiv is waiting to see what the alliance will muster up in terms of a clear pathway to membership for Ukraine.

Biden said he was “not at all” surprised by Turkey’s decision yesterday to clear the path for Sweden’s entry into NATO, a sudden shift as leaders gathered for the start of the summit in Vilnius. 

“I’ll talk about it later,” Biden promised as he sat down to meet with the Lithuanian president.

Asked what made Turkey agree to a deal, Biden smiled and said, “What do you think?” but did not elaborate.

Erdogan of Turkey had earlier linked Sweden's NATO bid to Turkey joining the European Union, setting up an apparent obstacle before it quickly dissolved.

The White House said Biden and transatlantic leaders would send “a united, positive signal” to Ukraine over its path to future NATO membership this week, but doused hopes that Kyiv could be fast-tracked into the defensive alliance.

“Bringing Ukraine into the alliance now in Vilnius would bring NATO into war with Russia. Also, Ukraine has further steps to take along its reform path, but allies will send a united, positive signal on Ukraine’s path to future membership in the alliance,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters, adding that leaders were unlikely to reach an agreement on a timeline for the process.

“There’s consensus, including from Ukraine, that the question is not Ukraine in NATO now, here in Vilnius. The question is, what’s the pathway towards Ukraine’s future membership,” he said. “I think we can come to a good understanding about that, here in Vilnius, among all of the allies, and with Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s push for security guarantees has been a source of tension leading up to the talks, with Biden warning over the weekend that its assent would pit NATO’s members, including the U.S., against Russia in the ongoing conflict. 

Biden welcomed Turkey's decision to back Sweden's NATO bid after a year of opposition to the Scandinavian country's application.

"I welcome the statement issued by Türkiye, Sweden and the NATO Secretary General this evening," Biden said in a statement. “I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Türkiye on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

Stoltenberg said yesterday that Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join the alliance after talks between Erdoğan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson the evening before the summit was scheduled to begin.

Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join NATO after a year of opposition, Stoltenberg said yesterday, calling the moment a “historic step.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to send the accession protocol to the Turkish Parliament for approval as soon as possible, he said, noting that Erdoğan would “ensure ratification.”

“Sweden will become a full member of the alliance,” Stoltenberg said.

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President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders will gather in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, this morning for a key summit that could alter the course of the war in Ukraine, as well as the future of the alliance itself.

NATO leaders will be joining the summit with a renewed collaborative spirit after Turkey dropped its longheld objections to Sweden joining the alliance.

The war in Ukraine will be at the top of the agenda for the summit, with alliance leaders expected to revise plans for dealing with Russian aggression.