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During a news conference on July 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the results of the NATO summit were "good" but pushed for NATO membership. (Video: The Washington Post)

Russia-Ukraine war Biden and Zelensky agree: Ukraine will join NATO only after war ends

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Key updates
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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Coming out of the annual summit for NATO leaders — which began with unexpected tension but ended on a note of unity — both President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to agree: Ukraine’s accession to NATO would come only after the war ended. In the run-up to the summit, Zelensky campaigned for Ukraine to be invited to join the military alliance. That request was ultimately not granted, though earlier Wednesday, the Group of Seven countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States — issued a joint declaration of “unwavering” support for Ukraine. Individually, NATO leaders also offered Kyiv security assurances and additional funding.

Key updates

Here’s what to know:

  • Biden delivered a sweeping speech at Lithuania’s Vilnius University on Wednesday, expressing unremitting support for Ukraine and NATO unity. “We will not waver,” he said. He described a world at an “inflection point,” tested by the war in Ukraine, among even larger and more existential challenges, including climate change and a global contest between democracy and autocracy.
  • Biden and other world leaders announced a major security program to boost Ukraine’s defenses over the long term, capping a NATO summit in which Ukraine was not invited to join the alliance but came away with a promise of years’ worth of additional military and humanitarian funding.
  • Biden told Zelensky, “The United States is doing everything we can to get you everything we can,” as the meeting between the two leaders began. Zelensky thanked the United States for ongoing military aid, including Biden’s recent decision to approve the supply of widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine. “The meeting was at least twice as long as planned, and it was as meaningful as it needed to be,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter after the discussion. He said they touched on “Long-term support. Weapons. Politics.”
  • NATO would invite Ukraine to become a member “when allies agree that conditions are met,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference with Zelensky, echoing language from a joint communiqué published Tuesday.
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Biden delivered a sweeping speech at Lithuania’s Vilnius University on Wednesday, expressing unremitting support for Ukraine and NATO unity. “We will not waver,” he said. He described a world at an “inflection point,” tested by the war in Ukraine, among even larger and more existential challenges, including climate change and a global contest between democracy and autocracy.
Biden and other world leaders announced a major security program to boost Ukraine’s defenses over the long term, capping a NATO summit in which Ukraine was not invited to join the alliance but came away with a promise of years’ worth of additional military and humanitarian funding.
Biden told Zelensky, “The United States is doing everything we can to get you everything we can,” as the meeting between the two leaders began. Zelensky thanked the United States for ongoing military aid, including Biden’s recent decision to approve the supply of widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine. “The meeting was at least twice as long as planned, and it was as meaningful as it needed to be,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter after the discussion. He said they touched on “Long-term support. Weapons. Politics.”
NATO would invite Ukraine to become a member “when allies agree that conditions are met,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference with Zelensky, echoing language from a joint communiqué published Tuesday.
End of carousel
Skip to end of carousel
Biden delivered a sweeping speech at Lithuania’s Vilnius University on Wednesday, expressing unremitting support for Ukraine and NATO unity. “We will not waver,” he said. He described a world at an “inflection point,” tested by the war in Ukraine, among even larger and more existential challenges, including climate change and a global contest between democracy and autocracy.
Biden and other world leaders announced a major security program to boost Ukraine’s defenses over the long term, capping a NATO summit in which Ukraine was not invited to join the alliance but came away with a promise of years’ worth of additional military and humanitarian funding.
Biden told Zelensky, “The United States is doing everything we can to get you everything we can,” as the meeting between the two leaders began. Zelensky thanked the United States for ongoing military aid, including Biden’s recent decision to approve the supply of widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine. “The meeting was at least twice as long as planned, and it was as meaningful as it needed to be,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter after the discussion. He said they touched on “Long-term support. Weapons. Politics.”
NATO would invite Ukraine to become a member “when allies agree that conditions are met,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference with Zelensky, echoing language from a joint communiqué published Tuesday.
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