Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised the “absurd” absence of a timetable for his country to join NATO as leaders met at a summit in Lithuania.
US President Joe Biden described the gathering as a “historic moment” and said Washington agreed with a proposal, yet to be released publicly, to outline a path for Ukraine’s eventual membership of the alliance.
However, Mr Zelenskyy, who is in Vilnius for the summit, expressed disappointment at how the negotiations were playing out.
“We value our allies,” he wrote on Twitter but added that “Ukraine also deserves respect”.
“It’s unprecedented and absurd when timeframe is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
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He added: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.”
The public flash of anger from the Ukrainian president, who has been lauded in the West as a hero for his leadership, could renew tensions in Vilnius just as they had begun to subside.
Mr Zelenskyy later addressed a crowd at a concert being held alongside the conference in Lithuania’s capital, telling a crowd full of people waving Ukrainian flags that “NATO will make Ukraine safer and Ukraine will make NATO stronger”.
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Zelenskyy’s last-minute brinkmanship was not enough to produce a significant breakthrough
A well-timed Tweet by Ukraine’s president condemned as “absurd” any failure by NATO allies to offer his country a clear timeline for membership to join the club.
It was posted just as leaders of the 31 member states began a crunch meeting in Lithuania on Tuesday to finalise the wording of an offer around membership, with division on whether or not to give Kyiv the formal invitation it has lobbied hard for.
In the end, however, the last-minute brinkmanship by Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not enough to produce a significant breakthrough.
The end result appeared to be more of a fudge, with a reaffirming of NATO’s belief that Ukraine’s future is as part of the alliance but without offering any kind of timeline.
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO chief, did his best effort to describe the outcome, contained in a communique as a “strong package for Ukraine and a clear path towards its membership”.
Mr Zelenskyy will be sure to offer his views at a dinner with NATO leaders on Tuesday evening and when he meets with them at the summit on Wednesday.
Offering a sense of the internal discussions that pre-empted the announcement, Petr Pazel, the Czech president, said his country and a majority of other allies were in favour of Ukraine’s accession to start as soon as its war with Russia is over.
“However, there are still some allies who have some concerns,” he told Sky News earlier in the day.
A European diplomatic source identified Germany and the United States as having been resistant to going too far on the language.
Ultimately, NATO is an alliance that works by consensus – one of its core strengths. But it means the group can only move as fast as its most resistant member.
The job now will be to overcome Ukrainian disappointment and focus on supporting its war effort as until that is over any hope of membership to NATO is a pipedream.
Responding to Mr Zelenskyy’s comments, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said a timeline for Ukraine’s membership in the alliance has not been set out as it is “conditions-based”.
Speaking at a news conference this afternoon, Mr Stoltenberg said there has “never been a stronger message from NATO at any time”.
The alliance chief said members had agreed a “substantive package” to move Ukraine closer and were sending a “strong political message with the language on membership”.
“If you look at all membership processes there have not been timelines… they are conditions based, have always been,” Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Vilnius.
On Monday evening, the night before the summit opened, Turkey withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step towards the unity Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it is poised to expand the alliance’s strength in northern Europe.
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2:00
Turkey ratifies Sweden’s NATO accession
“Rumours of the death of NATO’s unity are greatly exaggerated,” Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, told reporters on Tuesday.
According to a joint statement issued when the deal was announced, Mr Erdogan will ask Turkey’s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO.
Image: Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden were among the attendees in Vilnius
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to take a similar step.
The outcome is a victory for Mr Biden, as he has described NATO’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion has backfired on Vladimir Putin.
Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden will become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically non-aligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression.
Because of the deal on Sweden’s membership, “this summit is already historic before it has started”, Mr Stoltenberg said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters NATO’s expansion is “one of the reasons that led to the current situation”.
“It looks like the Europeans don’t understand their mistake,” Mr Peskov said. He warned against putting Ukraine on a fast track for NATO membership.
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“Potentially it’s very dangerous for the European security, it carries very big risks,” Mr Peskov added.
Mr Biden began Tuesday by meeting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, where he emphasised his commitment to transatlantic cooperation.
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NATO head on Ukraine’s accession
“Nothing happens here that doesn’t affect us,” he told Mr Nauseda. The White House said Mr Nauseda presented Mr Biden with the Order of Vytautas the Great, the highest award a Lithuanian president can bestow. Mr Biden is the first US president to receive it.
Mr Biden and Mr Erdogan were scheduled to meet on Tuesday evening, and it was unclear how some of the Turkish president’s other demands would be resolved.
He has been seeking advanced American fighter jets and a path towards membership of the European Union.
The White House has expressed support for both, but publicly insisted that the issues were not related to Sweden joining NATO.
“I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defence and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,” Mr Biden said in a statement on Monday.
Russia wants “quick peace” in Ukraine and London is at the “head of those resisting” it, the Russian ambassador to the UK has told Sky News.
In an interview on The World With Yalda Hakim, Andrei Kelin accused the UK, France and other European nations of not wanting to end the war in Ukraine.
“We are prepared to negotiate and to talk,” he said. “We have our position. If we can strike a negotiated settlement… we need a very serious approach to that and a very serious agreement about all of that – and about security in Europe.”
Image: Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin speaks to Yalda Hakim
US President Donald Trump held a surprise phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last month, shocking America’s European allies. He went on to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and relations between the pair were left in tatters after a meeting in the Oval Office descended into a shouting match.
Days later, the US leader suspended military aid to Ukraine, though there were signs the relationship between the two leaders appeared to be on the mend following the contentious White House meeting last week, with Mr Trump saying he “appreciated” a letter from Mr Zelenskyy saying Kyiv was ready to sign a minerals agreement with Washington “at any time”.
In his interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Mr Kelin said he was “not surprised” the US has changed its position on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, claiming Mr Trump “knows the history of the conflict”.
“He knows history and is very different from European leaders,” he added.
I’ve interviewed the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, on a number of occasions, at times the conversation has been tense and heated.
But today, I found a diplomat full of confidence and cautiously optimistic.
The optics of course have suddenly changed in Russia’s favour since Donald Trump was elected.
I asked him if Russia couldn’t believe its luck. “I would not exaggerate this too much,” he quipped.
Mr Kelin also “categorically” ruled out European troops on the ground and said the flurry of diplomatic activity and summits over the course of the past few weeks is not because Europeans want to talk to Moscow but because they want to present something to Mr Trump.
He appeared to relish the split the world is witnessing in transatlantic relations.
Of course the ambassador remained cagey about the conversations that have taken place between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
There is no doubt however that Russia is welcoming what Mr Kelin says is a shift in the world order.
Peace deal ‘should recognise Russian advances’
The Russian ambassador said Moscow had told Washington it believed its territorial advances in Ukraine “should be recognised” as part of any peace deal.
“What we will need is a new Ukraine as a neutral, non-nuclear state,” he said. “The territorial situation should be recognised. These territories have been included in our constitution and we will continue to push that all forces of the Ukrainian government will leave these territories.”
Asked if he thought the Americans would agree to give occupied Ukrainian land to Russia, he said: “I don’t think we have discussed it seriously. [From] what I have read, the Americans actually understand the reality.”
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31:20
In full: Russian ambassador’s interview with Sky’s Yalda Hakim
Moscow rules out NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine
He said Russia “categorically ruled out” the prospect of NATO peacekeepers on the ground in Ukraine – a proposal made by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron – saying “they have no rules of engagement” and so would just be “sitting in cities”.
“It’s senseless” and “not for reality,” Mr Kelin added.
He branded the temporary ceasefire raised by Mr Zelenskyy “a crazy idea”, and said: “We will never accept it and they perfectly are aware of that.
“We will only accept the final version, when we are going to sign it. Until then things are very shaky.”
He added: “We’re trying to find a resolution on the battlefield, until the US administration suggest something constructive.”
The United States is “finally destroying” the international rules-based order by trying to meet Russia “halfway”, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has warned.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Washington’s recent actions in relation to Moscow could lead to the collapse of NATO– with Europe becoming Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s next target.
“The failure to qualify actions of Russiaas an aggression is a huge challenge for the entire world and Europe, in particular,” he told a conference at the Chatham House think tank.
“We see that it is not just the axis of evil and Russia trying to revise the world order, but the US is finally destroying this order.”
Image: Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Pic: Reuters
Mr Zaluzhnyi, who took over as Kyiv’s ambassador to London in 2024 following three years as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, also warned that the White House had “questioned the unity of the whole Western world” – suggesting NATO could cease to exist as a result.
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But on the same day, the US president ordered a sudden freeze on shipments of US military aid to Ukraine,and Washington has since paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv and halted cyber operations against Russia.
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Mr Zaluzhnyi said the pause in cyber operations and an earlier decision by the US to oppose a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine were “a huge challenge for the entire world”.
He added that talks between the US and Russia – “headed by a war criminal” – showed the White House “makes steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them halfway”, warning Moscow’s next target “could be Europe”.
The Rohingya refugees didn’t escape danger though.
Right now, violence is at its worst levels in the camps since 2017 and Rohingya people face a particularly cruel new threat – they’re being forced back to fight for the same Myanmar military accused of trying to wipe out their people.
Image: A child at the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar
Militant groups are recruiting Rohingya men in the camps, some at gunpoint, and taking them back to Myanmar to fight for a force that’s losing ground.
More on Rohingyas
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Jaker is just 19.
We’ve changed his name to protect his identity.
He says he was abducted at gunpoint last year by a group of nine men in Cox’s.
They tied his hands with rope he says and took him to the border where he was taken by boat with three other men to fight for the Myanmar military.
“It was heartbreaking,” he told me. “They targeted poor children. The children of wealthy families only avoided it by paying money.”
And he says the impact has been deadly.
“Many of our Rohingya boys, who were taken by force from the camps, were killed in battle.”
Image: Jaker speaks to Sky’s Cordelia Lynch
Image: An aerial view of the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar
The situation in Cox’s is desperate.
People are disillusioned by poverty, violence and the plight of their own people and the civil war they ran from is getting worse.
In Rakhine, just across the border, there’s been a big shift in dynamics.
The Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group has all but taken control of the state from the ruling military junta.
Both the military and the AA are accused of committing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.
And whilst some Rohingya claim they’re being forced into the fray – dragged back to Myanmar from Bangladesh, others are willing to go.