VILNIUS: Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine would get a "positive message" on its path to membership on Tuesday, as leaders of the Western military alliance meet to discuss the fallout from Russia's war that brought war to their doorstep.
Divisions among Nato's 31 members mean there will not be a date or straightforward invitation for Ukraine to join, something its Soviet-era overlord Moscow says would threaten its national security.
But Stoltenberg said Kyiv would get more military aid and security guarantees, an easing of formal conditions to join, as well as a new format of cooperation with the alliance, the so-called Nato-Ukraine Council.
"I expect allies will send a clear, united and positive message on the path towards membership for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said on arriving at the Nato summit he was due to host.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan also said the gathering would send a "positive signal" about Kyiv's membership bid. Diplomats were upbeat as negotiators were drawing close on the final agreement.
US President Joe Biden, speaking alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, whose country is extremely wary of consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine for eastern Europe, reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the alliance.
The summit is also set to approve Nato's first comprehensive plans since the end of the Cold War to defend against any attack from Russia.
Moscow, which has cited Nato's eastern expansion as a key factor in its decision to attack Ukraine nearly 17 months ago, has criticised the two-day summit.
Russia's state news agency RIA quoted a Vienna-based senior Russian diplomat as warning that Europe would be the first to face "catastrophic consequences" should the war in Ukraine escalate.
While Nato members agree Kyiv cannot join during the war, they have disagreed over how quickly it could happen afterwards and under what conditions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, due to attend the Vilnius gathering, has been pressing Nato for a clear path for Ukraine to join once the war is over. On Tuesday, he said Ukrainian troops were keeping Russian aggression from Europe.
"The eastern border of Ukraine, the border of our state and the positions of our warriors are the line that the Russian dictatorship... will never cross again," he said.
Nato members in Eastern Europe have backed Kyiv's stance, arguing that bringing Ukraine under Nato's collective security umbrella is the best way to deter Russia from attacking again. — Reuters
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