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| All Nato members have agreed Ukraine will eventually join, says Stoltenberg | All Nato members have agreed Ukraine will eventually join, says Stoltenberg |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Secretary general says countries have agreed Kyiv will join military alliance when war with Russia is over | Secretary general says countries have agreed Kyiv will join military alliance when war with Russia is over |
| The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said all member countries have agreed that Ukraine will eventually join the transatlantic military alliance once the war is over, ahead of a meeting of western defence ministers discussing further military aid for Kyiv. | The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said all member countries have agreed that Ukraine will eventually join the transatlantic military alliance once the war is over, ahead of a meeting of western defence ministers discussing further military aid for Kyiv. |
| Further announcements on weapons and support are expected after the summit at the Ramstein airbase in Germany, but Stoltenberg also sounded notably upbeat about Ukraine’s longer-term prospects for joining Nato. | Further announcements on weapons and support are expected after the summit at the Ramstein airbase in Germany, but Stoltenberg also sounded notably upbeat about Ukraine’s longer-term prospects for joining Nato. |
| “All Nato allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member,” he said. “President Zelenskiy has a very clear expectation, we discussed this. | “All Nato allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member,” he said. “President Zelenskiy has a very clear expectation, we discussed this. |
| “Both the issue of membership but also security guarantees, and of course Ukraine needs security. Because no one can tell when and how this war ends. But what we do know is that when the war ends, we need to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.” | “Both the issue of membership but also security guarantees, and of course Ukraine needs security. Because no one can tell when and how this war ends. But what we do know is that when the war ends, we need to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.” |
| Nato membership, carrying with it a commitment from all member countries to protect each other if attacked, has long been a demand from Kyiv. Although Nato agreed in principle in 2008 that Ukraine could be allowed to join, the country has never been given a formal pathway to membership. | Nato membership, carrying with it a commitment from all member countries to protect each other if attacked, has long been a demand from Kyiv. Although Nato agreed in principle in 2008 that Ukraine could be allowed to join, the country has never been given a formal pathway to membership. |
| The outbreak of fighting with Russia, which dates back to 2014, has also acted as a further deterrent to Nato members because immediate membership for Ukraine would entail an immediate conflict with a nuclear-armed Moscow, which the US and other member states have made clear they will not contemplate. | The outbreak of fighting with Russia, which dates back to 2014, has also acted as a further deterrent to Nato members because immediate membership for Ukraine would entail an immediate conflict with a nuclear-armed Moscow, which the US and other member states have made clear they will not contemplate. |
| Zelenskiy is scheduled to attend Nato’s next annual summit in Vilinus, Lithuania, in July, but Ukrainian officials have said they want the alliance to agree a roadmap to membership as a condition for his attendance. Kyiv applied for an accelerated membership last September, seven months after the full invasion started in February. | Zelenskiy is scheduled to attend Nato’s next annual summit in Vilinus, Lithuania, in July, but Ukrainian officials have said they want the alliance to agree a roadmap to membership as a condition for his attendance. Kyiv applied for an accelerated membership last September, seven months after the full invasion started in February. |
| Stoltenberg had travelled to Kyiv on Thursday, the first time the Nato chief had visited the country since the start of the all-out war, where he said the alliance must ensure Ukraine “prevails” in the fighting. His fresh remarks indicate a willingness to edge forward Ukraine’s case for joining. | |
| But one key member cautioned against any rapid development. The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said in a Thursday night interview on German television: “The door is open a crack, but this is not the time to decide now.” | But one key member cautioned against any rapid development. The German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said in a Thursday night interview on German television: “The door is open a crack, but this is not the time to decide now.” |
| The meeting at Ramstein was expected to run into the afternoon. Its convener, the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, and the US chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, were scheduled to then hold a press conference. | |
| Meanwhile, EU countries are haggling over how to fulfil a promise to supply Ukraine with ammunition, following criticism from Kyiv that delays were costing lives. France, backed by Greece and Cyprus, is pressing to ensure that an EU plan to purchase €1bn (£884m) of ammunition for Ukraine is fulfilled via a fully-EU supply chain. | |
| On Thursday, Ukraine’s government criticised the EU over its “inability” to fulfil a promise to supply desperately needed ammunition. Sounding a rare note of irritation against the bloc, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the EU’s inability to implement its own decision was frustrating. “For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives,” he tweeted. | |
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| EU ministers agreed last month to supply Ukraine with €2bn of ammunition to replace dwindling stocks. The EU is spending €1bn to reimburse member states for sending ammunition from their supplies, a process that is under way. It has also pledged to jointly purchase a further €1bn of shells for Ukraine from arms manufacturers in the EU and Norway. But translating that political agreement into a legally binding text has hit a snag. Paris insists that all components of the 155mm shells should come from EU suppliers, which is a problem for EU companies that use non-EU suppliers. | |
| One senior EU diplomat said most member states were ready to support the current text, barring a few, which was stalling an agreement. “And that’s disappointing. Because again, time matters here, and we should all be focused on helping Ukraine and all the rest is secondary.” | |
| In a possible reproach to Paris, Kuleba said the ammunition decision was “a test of whether the EU has strategic autonomy in making new crucial security decisions”, deploying the French president Emmanuel Macron’s favoured phrase for Europe’s freedom from dangerous dependencies in defence and industrial policy. | |
| With EU foreign affairs ministers due to meet on Monday, officials voiced confidence the spat could be quickly resolved. “It is our impression that a solution is near,” said one senior official. |