Ukraine will get "a lot" at NATO summit, but not as much as expected

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says that despite the intense discussions among NATO countries, the next week's Vilnius summit will succeed in agreeing on commitments to Ukraine that will not disappoint the country, LRT reported. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped that the summit would agree to invite the country to join NATO after the war, and he refuses to travel to Vilnius next week unless he receives signals on this issue.

"Yes, indeed [...] some issues are still pending, but I think it is a question of the next few days, basically a question of today. And, well, I have a feeling that we will, however, find formulations that will not disappoint the Ukrainians and that will say more than what we are used to saying," Nausėda said in an interview with BNS, according to LRT.

The Lithuanian President says he believes that individual countries will come with their own packages of additional support for Ukraine in Vilnius and "President Zelenskyy, I hope, when he comes to Vilnius, will certainly get perhaps not quite what he is hoping for in his maximum plans, but he will certainly get a lot."

As the interviewer said that "Ukraine will not be invited to join the Alliance in Vilnius, that much is clear," Nausėda replied:

"I would not put it so categorically that there will be no invitation [to join] after the war in one form or another. That is what we are discussing now," he said.

Earlier, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said

in an interview for RFE/RL that NATO membership "is the only security guarantee" for Ukraine.

“It is important that NATO member countries agree during their upcoming summit in Vilnius on "practical steps" on how Ukraine gets into the alliance,” she added.

Ukraine will get “a lot” at NATO summit, but not as much as expected – Lithuania President