• The NATO summit in Lithuania approved new spending goals for member countries and offered to provide long-term support to Ukraine. Yet, the one issue that overshadowed the Vilnius summit was Ukraine’s promised membership in the alliance on which there was no clarity or time frame.
  • As collective security is at the heart of NATO, if Ukraine is admitted now, the Ukraine war by default becomes NATO’s war— in other words, the third World War. NATO, and particularly the U.S., does not want to take that risk.
  • NATO wants to defeat or weaken Russia in Ukraine without directly committing itself to the war. This has left Ukrainian President Zelenskyy disappointed as he wanted firmer commitments from NATO on membership and a time frame.