President Biden closed out a major NATO summit in Lithuania Wednesday by touting the alliance’s staying power on the global stage and asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin badly misjudged the alliance’s unity and strength when he invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
The summit provided high points for Mr. Biden and NATO officials — including a breakthrough deal with Turkey allowing long-neutral Sweden to join the alliance — and some trickier moments, including a last-minute effort to finesse Ukraine’s hopes for a clear date for membership. But Mr. Biden was emphasizing the positive in his closing remarks in Vilnius.
Mr. Putin “was betting NATO would break apart,” an animated Mr. Biden said in a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, where U.S. and European leaders have sought, despite a range of internal tensions this week, to emphasize the alliance’s commitment to continue backing Ukraine.
Mr. Putin “thought our unity would shatter at the first testing, He thought our democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong,” said Mr. Biden, who boasted that after 17 months of war in Ukraine, NATO is “stronger, more energized and yes, more united than ever in its history.”
The president traveled to Helsinki, Finland for the final leg of his European tour, for a summit with leaders of Sweden and other Nordic countries. Finland earlier this year became NATO’s 31st member, like Sweden dropping a historical position of neutrality in the face of Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
Mr. Biden’s speech came after the two-day summit in Vilnius saw NATO leaders muddle through such sensitive issues as how to deal with lethargic defense spending by some member nations, while also celebrating the breakthrough over Sweden and strategizing over how to keep Ukraine armed for a potentially drawn-out war with Moscow.
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A dominant theme saw NATO leaders struggle behind the scenes on how to draw Ukraine closer into the fold of the nearly 75-year-old Western security alliance without actually making it a member — a move Mr. Putin has said would cross a red line.
Tensions over Ukraine‘s desire to join NATO burst into the open as the summit began Tuesday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who attended a special guest, going public with frustrations over the bloc’s failure to offer a firm date for his country to join, and lamenting on social media the lack specifics on what is expected of Kyiv into order to qualify for membership.
NATO leaders announced that Ukraine will eventually be invited in, but only after Kyiv has met certain conditions — a stance critics said represented little change from the status quo. The alliance also “agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan [for Ukraine]” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, referring to a key step most other member nations have had to take in joining the alliance.
Mr. Biden has been one of the leading skeptics on Kyiv’s appeal for accelerated membership, in part, for fear it would draw the U.S. and its European allies into a direct shooting war with Russia. The president has, however, repeatedly said the U.S. is prepared to provide long-term security assistance to Ukraine — “the capacity to defend themselves” — as Washington has long done with other close allies.
Mr. Zelenskyy softened his rhetoric in Vilnius Wednesday after holding direct talks on the summit’s sidelines with Mr. Biden, who told the Ukrainian president that the administration is “doing everything we can” to help Ukraine succeed in its fight against Russia, adding that he understands Mr. Zelenskyy’s impatience.
“I look forward to the day when we’re having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership in NATO,” Mr. Biden said as he greeted the Ukrainian leader for a bilateral talk.
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A more low-key Mr. Zelenskyy could not refrain from a last bit of lobbying for his country’s NATO hopes, releasing a statement Wednesday that read in part, “I believe that we will be in NATO as soon as the security situation is stabilized. In simple terms, the moment the war is over.”
While the U.S. and several other major NATO members have spent the past 17 months openly arming and training Ukraine‘s military to push out Russian forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for officially admitting Ukraine into NATO.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Zelenskyy met after the U.S. and other world powers announced an extension of long-term security commitments for Ukraine.
“We’re going to make sure you get what you need,” Mr. Biden told the Ukrainian president.
Despite his biting criticism of NATO a day earlier, Mr. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude Wednesday for billions of dollars in weapons and other support from the American people.
“You gave us huge support and I want to thank all the Americans,” the Ukrainian president told Mr. Biden in front of an audience of reporters.
Mr. Biden said Ukraine is paying a “hell of a price” but that the war is “bringing the world together.”
The president expounded on that theme in his speech later in the day, asserting that in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, “Our unity will not falter — I promise you.”
Breakthrough
Analysts say the high point of the Vilnius summit was the breakthrough on the impending membership of Sweden, which had initially sought to join alongside Finland. The expansion is a bitter irony for Russia’s Mr. Putin, who repeatedly cited previous rounds of NATO expansion into central and Eastern Europe as a main justification for his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
“The most successful element of the Vilnius summit was enhancing NATO deterrence along its front line with Russia, from the High North to the Mediterranean Sea,” Hans Binnendijk, a fellow with the Atlantic Council said in comments circulated to journalists.
“With Finland in and Sweden soon to be in, there is a solid line of defense against Russian aggression. There is no clearer evidence of Russia’s strategic failure,” he said.
NATO had struggled for months to reach an agreement on admitting Sweden. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had stood in the way, arguing that Stockholm has a history of harboring anti-Turkey Kurdish militants and has imposed sanctions on Ankara.
With Sweden having changed its anti-terror laws and lifted an arms embargo that it had on Turkey, Mr. Erdogan dropped his veto threat just ahead of this week’s summit in Vilnius. The Turkish president said Wednesday that his goal is to have Turkey’s parliament ratify Sweden’s NATO membership “as swiftly as possible,” but that it won’t happen until October, after the upcoming two-month summer recess for Turkish lawmakers.
Russia bristles
Russian officials have bristled in response to the gathering in Lithuania throughout the week, voicing particular frustration over the Sweden development. And, Moscow expressed fresh distaste Monday for overall U.S.-led efforts to arm Ukraine.
At a press conference in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov took aim at Washington’s recent pledge to deliver controversial cluster munition bombs to Kyiv to bolster the Ukrainian military’s ongoing counteroffensive against Russian forces.
“The potential use of this type of munitions changes the situation, and of course, it would force Russia to take countermeasures,” Mr. Peskov said.
Russian forces inside Ukraine have already used cluster bombs, which have the capability of covering acres of territory with hundreds of small explosives and are banned by more than 100 countries around the world because of their high propensity for injuring civilians.
The Biden administration also recently announced it would send up to $500 million in fresh military aid to Kyiv, including an infusion of missiles for air defense systems and more than 50 heavily armored vehicles.
Other NATO powers have seized on this week’s summit in Vilnius to make similar announcements. France, for instance, said Tuesday that it will provide Ukraine with cutting-edge cruise missiles which are equivalent to the “Storm Shadow” missiles that Britain has been providing since May.
Key Republican lawmakers in Washington praised the French move Wednesday, saying it should be a wake-up call for the Biden administration to do more to bolster Ukraine’s counteroffensive and stop delaying the delivery of the U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Ukrainian forces.
“[It] should prompt the Biden Administration to transfer ATACMS without delay,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas, along with Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, respectively.
“The recent U.S. transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine and Britain’s ongoing provision of deep-strike Storm Shadows demonstrate that fears of escalation remain unfounded and that Ukraine continues to use advanced arms capably and effectively,” the three Republicans said in a statement. “Indeed, Ukraine’s defense minister has stated that Storm Shadows have hit 100% of their targets. It is time for the Biden administration to stop leading from behind.”
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.