NATO leaders welcome Ukraine's 'clear direction' and unanimous support for membership

VILNIUS, July 12 (from the special envoy of EUROPA PRESS, Víctor Tuda) -

NATO leaders have celebrated this Wednesday that the first day of the Vilnius summit, in Lithuania, has served to close unanimous support among allies for the accession of Ukraine, marking a "clear direction" for its future entry once the end of the Russian invasion.

Upon arrival on the second day of the summit, several NATO leaders from the East and the Baltics have expressed their satisfaction that the Atlantic alliance achieved unity in sending a transparent message to Ukraine on its way to NATO .

"The path is now clear after yesterday's decisions. We can say that the decision has been made," Polish President Andrezj Duda said of the signal sent to kyiv. Although he has agreed that it will be "impossible" to advance in accession while the war lasts due to the implications of the Russian invasion in the collective defense clause, which would drag the allies into war with Russia.

On his side, the Latvian Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins, has indicated that there is now a "unanimous" vision that Kiev must be supported "until the end" and Ukraine's entry into the alliance is considered "inevitable". "Moscow does not generate division between allies," he stressed.

In this sense, he has acknowledged that he would like to move faster with the incorporation of Ukraine into NATO, but has acknowledged that the direction is "clear" and that now all the allies are on the same point with respect to Kiev. "We have gone from the doubts of some allies to one hundred percent support in the direction of Ukraine joining NATO," he said.

"It is the first time that we clearly state the path of Ukraine to NATO. We are clear about the preconditions and we have the invitation," said the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nauseda, who is hosting it and who has celebrated that the summit is already successful. thanks to these commitments with Ukraine.

Nauseda has assured that agreeing to invite Ukraine when the security conditions and the reforms of its military sector are met is "the maximum" that could be agreed during the summit, because immediate entry was ruled out.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, meanwhile, has celebrated that Ukraine now has concrete steps to join NATO, insisting that when the window of opportunity opens, allies can proceed to rapid membership.

"When there is peace, we will be able to continue Ukraine's membership in NATO," Kallas said, noting that "all allies" now support kyiv's path to the military bloc.

After the summit held in Lithuania, Ukraine's accession becomes explicit in the ideology of the Atlantic alliance which, in any case, recalls that any candidate must be in a position to contribute to Euro-Atlantic security, as indicated in article 10 of its treaty.

In this way, NATO takes a step forward with respect to the 2008 declaration in which it recognized Ukraine as a future member, although it still does not use any temporary reference to Ukraine's entry, thus satisfying Germany and the United States, which were the closest allies. reluctant to extend the invitation to Kiev, which was claimed by Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Baltics.