The NATO summit in Washington, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, ended, but his country was not invited to join the Alliance.
The organisers also did not name the timeframe when NATO would be able to accept Ukraine and did not announce the conditions required for accession, according to the final communiqué. It claimed that the alliance would invite Kyiv only when allies agreed that it had fulfilled “all necessary conditions,” including unspecified “democratic reforms.”
The declaration also includes a paragraph on Ukraine’s “irreversible future in NATO,” with the current transition described as a “bridge” on the path to membership. The Alliance plans to allocate 40 billion euros to Ukraine over the next year and to create a separate structure responsible for coordinating aid to Ukraine and military training.
In addition, NATO appointed its “senior representative” in Ukraine without providing details.
The member states specified that NATO did not seek confrontation and did not pose a threat to Russia. However, according to the document, the Alliance is going to continue expanding in the Black Sea region and the Eastern Balkans, as well as increasing its presence in Finland, which borders Russia.
Increasing the production of ammunition and air defence equipment was identified as a key priority for the country. As the earlier incident in Kyiv showed, a shortage of air defence systems could lead to serious consequences.
During the summit, US President Joe Biden accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin.” The remark could heighten concerns about his mental abilities and threaten to derail his presidential campaign, according to US media.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine did not want to wait for NATO membership “for another 75 years,” according to CNN.
We will only be fully happy when Ukraine becomes a NATO member and the promises of that are fulfilled. We’ve heard compelling messages in the last two days at all levels that the path to membership is irreversible, that Ukraine will be in NATO. But you know, we can’t wait another 75 years to celebrate Ukraine’s accession. It has to happen as soon as possible.
Ukrainian air defence problem
Meanwhile, Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuhla continues to harshly criticise the leadership of the Ukrainian Air Force. She claimed that the leadership deliberately falsified the statistics of arrivals, calling the missiles that hit the targets “debris” in order to keep “faith in the AFU [Ukrainian Armed Forces]”. The missile strike on Kyiv on 8 July showed what was really going on with the Ukrainian air defence system, the MP stated.
According to her, the Ukrainian air defence calculations are poorly equipped and ill-coordinated among themselves.
Elementary mobile teams and drone units at key infrastructure sites are often absent, and key sites often have no air defence at all, and the Russians know this very well.
She also noted the failure of military officials to properly distribute financial aid.
For last year 2023, the UK alone failed to distribute and fund £400m worth of air defence repairs because the Defence Ministry and the AFU General Staff failed to explain how they planned to spend the money.
Talks ahead of US presidential election
According to Bloomberg, Ukraine is seeking to convene a second meeting to reach a fair peace settlement in Ukraine before the US elections in November. This time Kyiv wants to invite Russia to participate.
Ukraine is supposedly in a hurry to hold the second summit as it fears former President Donald Trump’s election victory. However, some US officials expressed doubts that such a summit would take place.
Moreover, Russia has already stated that it is not going to participate in the next summit on Ukraine, as countries will promote the “Zelensky formula,” while “ignoring other initiatives,” according to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Galuzin.
There is yet another manifestation of fraud. We do not accept such ultimatums and are not going to participate in such summits.
The plan follows the first summit, held in Switzerland last month and attended by representatives of more than 90 countries. Russia was not invited, several states sent lower-level delegations, and Ukraine’s attempt to get key countries in the Global South on its side failed as some refused to sign the final declaration, according to Bloomberg.
Tightening mobilisation
Meanwhile, Kyiv media published queues at military enlistment offices as men, according to the new mobilisation law, must appear to update their data by 16 July. Queues have also been seen at the Territorial Recruitment Centre (TRC) in Poltava. However, those people were not volunteers, but those wishing to continue their reservations from mobilisation, the speaker of the Poltava regional TRC Roman Istomin reported.
Ukrainian media reported about a mobilised man who jumped from the ground floor window of a military recruitment centre and broke his leg “out of despair.” Meanwhile, advertisements offering to break an arm or a leg to avoid mobilisation appeared in Dnipropetrovsk.
The formation of a legion of Ukrainian refugees in Poland has also brought some results. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that several thousand people had already applied to join the Ukrainian Legion.
Several thousand have already registered for the draft. And, interestingly enough, many of them really want to serve and rotate their compatriots, but they say: we don’t want to be sent into combat without being properly trained and equipped.
According to him, Ukrainians mobilised to this legion would be able to return to Poland after rotation.
If every European country did this, Ukraine would have several brigades.
However, some military experts expressed doubts, arguing that the claimed three thousand volunteers could not have appeared in just three days. On Wednesday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov urged Ukrainians abroad to join the Legion, although he did not specify details on how to do so.
