WASHINGTON, July 11, (AP): The 32-members of NATO on Wednesday formally declared Ukraine on an "irreversible” path to membership in the Western military alliance, offering a bare but more binding assurance of protection once its war with Russia ends.
NATO member countries individually and in Wednesday's joint statement from their summit in Washington announced a series of steps aimed at bolstering Ukraine's defenses. That includes the US, the Netherlands and Denmark announcing that the first NATO-provided F-16s would be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots by this summer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his appreciation of the effort to strengthen his air force, coming soon after Ukraine saw one of the deadliest strikes of the war.
NATO on Wednesday also announced a long-term commitment of security assistance to Ukraine, and confirmed establishment of a new NATO center aimed at ensuring that Ukraine gets a more reliable flow of arms and training from members of the alliance. But the commitments still fall short of the striking power Ukraine says it needs to defeat the invading Russian forces.
The final statement called China - which the West says provides components for Russia's weapons - a "decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
"Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” alliance members said in their statement. "We will continue to support it on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
The alliance welcomed Ukraine's democratic, economic and security reforms needed to join and said it would get an invitation "when Allies agree and conditions are met."
While the leaders stand ready to offer Ukraine the means to defend itself in a war now in its third year, nowhere do they say that Ukraine should prevail over Russia. Indeed, their statement said that "NATO does not seek confrontation, and poses no threat to Russia. We remain willing to maintain channels of communication with Moscow to mitigate risk and prevent escalation.”