Vilnius 12.07.2023 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, July 12, it would be absurd if Ukraine is not offered a timeframe for NATO membership at an alliance summit in Lithuania.

Profound divisions in the Alliance are preventing NATO to offer Kyiv a date for accession or a straightforward invitation to join during the Summit taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 11-12 July in Vilnius, the capital city.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when (a) time frame is not set, neither for the invitation (to join NATO) nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskyy and his team were indignant, when understood NATO has declined any timeline for Ukraine to join in times after the war is over.

The President of Ukraine said lingering uncertainty over Ukraine’s NATO membership would mean “a window of opportunity is being left to bargain (over) Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia.

“And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror,” he said.

Indicating that he would attend the Summit, he said: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”

Moscow, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, said it was following the NATO Summit closely and that it would take “measures to protect Russia’s own security.”