NATO invites Ukraine to its birthday party, with no fresh pledge on membership

BRUSSELS — Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday stood alone among a crowd of Russia's neighbors who gathered to celebrate the founding of NATO exactly 75 years ago.

For Kuleba, the alliance's birthday party only highlighted Ukraine's exclusion from the club it desperately wants to join, and its urgent requests to the assembled countries for weapons to fend off deadly Russian attacks.

"I came here against the background of continued unprecedented missile and drone attacks of Russia against Ukriane," Kuleba told journalists. "I don’t want to spoil the party, the birthday party. But my main message today would be Patriots," he added, referring to the anti-missile system made by U.S.-based Raytheon.

Ukraine first formally applied for membership in September 2022, months after Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion. But there was a strong resistance from the United States and Germany, irking Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just hours before the Vilnius NATO summit started last year.

At that summit in the Lithuanian capital, member countries agreed they "will be in a position to extend" an invitation to Kyiv "when allies agree and conditions are met." But two NATO diplomats say there's no signal from the U.S. or Germany that they're prepared to shift position.

Officially, the door is open for Ukraine.

"As we prepare for our Washington Summit, we're working together to cement Ukraine's path towards NATO membership. This matters for Ukraine’s security and for our security," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, when he chaired Kuleba's joint meeting with alliance members just moments after cutting a NATO birthday chocolate cake.

Asked about Ukraine's membership path, Stoltenberg told journalists on Wednesday that "all allies agree that Ukraine will become a member; all allies agree that we need to continue to move Ukraine closer to NATO membership."

But there is a lack of diplomatic momentum to find additional language beyond last year's lukewarm pledge for Ukraine to join NATO — one day.

Stoltenberg did manage to find a silver lining for Ukraine — saying that NATO could move much faster than the European Union, another grouping Kyiv is keen to join.

"In the European Union, of course, when you're invited, it can take years from an invitation to membership," said Stoltenberg. "While in NATO, when you're invited, it's something that happens soon after."

Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna — whose country is among the biggest advocates for Ukraine — conceded that Kyiv's membership won't be a top priority at the July summit, given the tough fighting on the ground.

"We are creating a bridge, and finally Ukraine will become a member of NATO," Tsahkna told POLITICO. "But now we have to focus [on] the existing situation."

For the more sympathetic NATO allies, such as Poland, the U.K. and France, that "bridge" is to focus on furthering the military interoperability between Ukraine and NATO — a key indicator of Kyiv's fitness to join in future.

France has floated the idea of sending military personnel to Ukraine for training purposes, while NATO ministers also agreed to let the organization plan a bigger role in coordinating the training of Ukrainian troops.

But for now Ukraine is on the outside looking in, as other former members of the Soviet empire — from the Baltic countries to Poland, Romania and others celebrate the stability brought by NATO membership.

"When NATO was founded, my country, Poland, was trapped on the wrong side," Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said. "Unfortunately, Russia is on the march again."

His Lithuanian counterpart, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said his country's success after joining NATO could make it an appealing target for Russia.

He said NATO's "greatest victory" was winning the Cold War, which allowed his country "to reappear as an independent and sovereign country on Europe's map. Unfortunately, it could be that NATO's biggest battles and fights are still in the future and we have to be very much prepared for that."