Advisor to the President of Lithuania: Ukraine has much more security guarantees after NATO Summit in Vilnius

Ukraine has more security guarantees from the international community than before the NATO summit.

This was stated by Advisor to the President of Lithuania Kęstutis Budrys.

"They [Ukraine] have much more [guarantees] now than they had before Vilnius. I would not compare it with Bucharest, which we take as the lowest point, but with what was before the Vilnius meeting and after - what Ukraine has after July 12," he said.

Nausėda's adviser added that Ukraine had received practical support from the Alliance, including arms supplies, bilateral cooperation, training for the Ukrainian military and much more.

The NATO Summit was held on July 11-12 in Vilnius. At the meeting, Ukraine and the leaders of the Group of Seven countries agreed on a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, also joined by the Nordic countries. 

On July 11, NATO member states agreed on a joint communiqué on Ukraine at the Vilnius Summit. The Allies stressed that Ukraine is becoming more compatible and politically integrated with NATO and has made significant progress on its reform agenda.

NATO Foreign Ministers will regularly assess progress through an adapted Annual National Programme. 

"We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and the conditions are met," the communiqué says. 

The text does not specify which conditions must be met.

"Our position is that there are all the conditions to invite Ukraine to become a NATO member. That is, we have fundamentally different positions here. Their position is that there are some conditions that need to be fulfilled," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Radio Liberty.

Kuleba stressed that "the confidence of NATO countries in Ukraine's membership in NATO is much higher than in 2008". The Foreign Minister noted that decisions had been made that "shorten Ukraine's path to NATO".

These include the cancellation of the Membership Action Plan, an action programme that candidate countries are required to implement before joining the Alliance, and the creation of the NATO-Ukraine Council.

"We insisted that the rules of procedure for the NATO-Ukraine Council clearly state that it is an instrument for bringing Ukraine's membership closer. In other words, everything is being tailored to accelerate our membership in NATO," Kuleba said.

At the same time, the Minister is "upset" by the overly general wording of the invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance.

"We are glad that there is a willingness to consider the issue of an invitation. But we are disappointed that there is no clear indicator of when exactly Ukraine will receive an invitation to become a NATO member," added Kuleba.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the adoption of the three-part support package meant that Ukraine was closer to NATO membership than ever before. 

It includes the National Support Programme from Allies, the establishment of the NATO-Ukraine Council, and the confirmation of Ukraine's future membership in NATO in the text of the communiqué.

"Today, we [Zelenskyy] are meeting as equals. I look forward to the day when we meet as allies," Stoltenberg wrote on his social media.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine received unambiguous support for NATO membership following the summit. 

"According to the support of the leaders, according to today's speeches by each of the leaders at our meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, we have received strong support from three dozen states," the President of Ukraine added.

Zelenskyy also met with U.S. President Joe Biden on the summit's sidelines and called the meeting "good and positive."

"You have already done a lot of work, and I know you have much more to do. I look forward to the day when we will meet and celebrate official NATO membership with you," the US President said.

Photo: Mission of Ukraine to NATO | Facebook