NATO summit: Rift emerges on final day over Ukraine’s future membership of military alliance
A rift has emerged at the NATO summit in Lithuania as the military alliance struggles to find a consensus on Ukraine’s future membership.
A new forum, named the NATO–Ukraine Council, will be established as one of several commitments set to be signed by G7 countries and other allies on Wednesday after they promised to provide Ukraine with more military assistance for fighting Russia.
But the move is seen as part of NATO’s effort to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the alliance without actually joining it.
Ukraine latest: Kremlin reacts to NATO summit
On Tuesday, leaders said that Ukraine can join “when allies agree and conditions are met”.
NATO’s general secretary Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said that Ukraine is now closer to NATO than ever but said the most urgent task for Western allies at the moment was supporting the country’s war effort against Russia.
“Of course guarantees, documents, council meetings are important but the most urgent task now is to ensure enough weapons for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and his armed forces,” Mr Stoltenberg said at a news conference.
But the UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the new security arrangements would not be a substitute for Ukraine’s membership of NATO.
Many Western countries are willing to keep sending weapons outside the alliance to help Ukraine, without the country joining its ranks.
But there has been significant disagreement between the 31 countries in NATO, with Mr Biden saying he doesn’t think Ukraine is ready to join the alliance.
“We have to stay outside of this war but be able to support Ukraine. We managed that very delicate balancing act for the last 17 months,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said.
“It’s to the benefit of everyone that we maintain that balancing act.”
But Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, whose country lies on NATO’s eastern flank and has a long, troubled history with Russia, said he wanted more commitments for Ukraine.
“There will always be a difference of flavour of how fast you would want to go,” he said.
“But at the end of it, what everyone gets, including Ukraine, and what Moscow sees is we are all very united.”
US President Joe Biden and other leaders will meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the first meeting of the permanent council where the war-torn country will be able to call crisis talks and sit as equals.
Mr Zelenskyy is attending the summit’s final day in Vilnius but he has been sharply critical in recent days of what he described as NATO’s “absurd” reluctance to set a timeline for his country’s acceptance into the alliance.
Participants attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) with Asia Pacific Partners during the NATO summit
The Ukrainian president said in a speech on Tuesday that he had faith in NATO, but that he would “like this faith to become confidence, confidence in the decisions that we deserve, all of us, every soldier, every citizen, every mother, every child”.
“Is that too much to ask?” he added.
A major problem for NATO is defining the end of the Ukraine war, at which point the country could join.
NATO officials have declined to identify at what stage this could happen, suggesting it could range from a negotiated ceasefire or Ukraine reclaiming all occupied territory.
This issue essentially gives Mr Putin veto power over Ukraine’s NATO membership by continuing the conflict.
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Under Article 5 of the NATO charter, members are obligated to defend each other from attack, which could swiftly draw the US and other nations into direct fighting with Russia if Ukraine joins the alliance.
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Sunak held a bilateral meeting in Vilnius this morning.
“The meeting with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak has begun,” Mr Zelenskyy posted on Twitter.
“Our negotiations always enhance global security! More news to come.”
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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