President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has secured Turkey’s crucial backing for Ukraine’s Nato aspirations, though Joe Biden said he did not think there was “unanimity” among alliance members that it should join during Russia’s invasion.
As the war entered its 500th day on Saturday, Zelenskiy hailed progress from talks in Istanbul with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He said: “I am grateful to Turkey for its constant support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. I believe that, together, we can do even more, saving lives and protecting stability.”
Zelenskiy said military production agreements had been signed, including for the manufacturing of drones, and that he “invited Turkey to join the large-scale work to rebuild Ukraine, its reconstruction, and transformation”.
Zelenskiy’s talks in Turkey were being watched closely by the Kremlin, which has tried to break its international isolation by cultivating strong relations with Erdoğan, who still opposes Nato membership for Sweden.
But while reaffirming his longstanding call for peace negotiations, Erdoğan told reporters at a joint media appearance with Zelenskiy in Istanbul: “There is no doubt that Ukraine deserves membership of Nato.”
However, Biden highlighted a key factor in terms of the timing of membership, telling CNN in an interview that aired on Friday: “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.
“… If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
Erdoğan said he would personally brief Vladimir Putin on the latest negotiations when the Russian president visits Turkey next month, his first trip there since the invasion. The Turkish leader said they would discuss possible prisoner swaps, which Erdogan has helped to arrange in the past, and the Black Sea grain deal that has allowed Ukraine to export grain via that route. The deal will expire on 17 July unless Russia agrees to its renewal.
Nato leaders will publicly recommit to Ukraine becoming a member of the military alliance and unite on how to bring Kyiv closer to this goal when they meet at a key summit in Vilnius next week, the organisation’s secretary general has said.
“For 500 days, Moscow has brought death and destruction to the heart of Europe,” Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in a news conference in Brussels on Friday previewing the gathering. “Our summit will send a clear message: Nato stands united, and Russia’s aggression will not pay.”
Zelenskiy has been pushing hard for Nato membership in the run-up to Vilnius, something the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said would come in the “not too distant future”, but not at the summit in the Lithuanian capital. Kyiv “still has further steps that it needs to take before membership”, Sullivan said. (Guardian)