A year ago, NATO heads of state gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania, for their annual summit. A gathering designed to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message about NATO’s resolve and commitment became clouded instead, however, by the question of Ukraine’s eventual membership in the alliance.
The communique released after the multi-day event reaffirmed a commitment given by the alliance during the 2008 summit in Bucharest: Ukraine will become a NATO member, even if the timing is yet to be determined.
For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the reaffirmation was far short of his expectations. He called NATO’s unwillingness to establish a concrete timeframe for Ukraine’s membership “unprecedented and absurd,” causing consternation in the Biden administration and nearly derailing the summit.
Washington and Kyiv were able to patch up the acrimony. But with NATO leaders in Washington this week to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the alliance, the Ukraine membership question continues to hover over the proceedings like humidity in the dog days of August.
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