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Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday failed to set a timetable for Ukraine's membership of the alliance, which angered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said allies have agreed on a package of three elements to "bring Ukraine closer to NATO." However, he clarified that an invitation for Ukraine to join the alliance will be issued "when allies agree and conditions are met."
"It's unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is not set either for the invitation or for Ukraine's membership. 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," Zelenskyy tweeted. He is set to attend the inaugural meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy also voiced disappointment that Ukraine was not invited to join NATO at a rally in Vilnius where the NATO summit was held. "NATO will make Ukraine safer, Ukraine will make NATO stronger."
The NATO stance highlighted its members are divided on how to bring Ukraine closer to their bloc. As media reports showed, NATO members in eastern Europe are pressing for an explicit commitment on when Ukraine will join, while the United States and Germany are more cautious and reluctant to clarify.
Officials and analysts warned that NATO's expansion and its responses to the Ukraine issue may seriously threaten global security.
Noting NATO is engaged in an aggressive arms drive and is thwarting all negotiation efforts regarding the Ukraine crisis, Sevim Dagdelen, a member of Germany's lower house of Parliament, accused the military pact of fighting a proxy war against Russia by supplying military aid to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said that Moscow has witnessed repeated waves of NATO expansion towards its borders, and the West does not understand the risks of this expansion.
（CGTN）
