NATO won't formally invite Ukraine to its July summit

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg brief the media after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on June 19. Markus Schreiber/AP

NATO will not issue a formal invitation to Ukraine to join the military alliance during a high-profile summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, in July, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Monday. 

“At the Vilnius summit and in the preparations for the summit, we're not discussing to issue a formal invitation. What we are discussing is how to move Ukraine closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg told journalists during a joint press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

The secretary general added that although consultations are ongoing regarding Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, he is “not in a position to pre-empt the outcome of these consultations.” 

“What I can say is that the Allies actually already agree on a lot,” Stoltenberg remarked, referencing NATO’s membership invitations to Finland and Sweden as an example. 

“We also agree on what we stated in 2008 that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance. We also agree that is not for Russia, but for Ukraine and NATO allies, to decide when the time is right to invite Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added. 

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has pressed Stoltenberg on previous occasions to commit to a timeframe for Ukraine’s membership bid. 

During a visit to Moldova in early June, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine “is ready to be in NATO and is merely “waiting [for] when NATO will be ready.”