Zelenskyy demands NATO membership timeline
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter that it is “absurd” that Ukraine has not been given a timeline on its path to NATO membership, as the alliance meets in Lithuania.
Hours before the start of the summit in Vilnius, Russia conducted overnight air raids on Kyiv with Iranian-made Shahed drones; Ukraine says it shot them all down.Turkey should be under no illusion that it will join the EU: Kremlin
The Kremlin says Turkey should be under no illusion that it might one day be allowed to join the EU.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about NATO member Turkey’s decision to lift its opposition to Sweden joining the alliance.
“Turkey can orient itself to the West; we know that in the history of the Republic of Turkey there were periods of intensive orientation to the West; there were periods of less intensive ones,” he said.
“But we also know that… no one wants to see Turkey in Europe, I mean the Europeans. And here, our Turkish partners should not wear rose-tinted spectacles either,” he said.Russian officials launch series of threats towards West as NATO meets
Russian officials have issued a series of warnings to Western leaders meeting in Lithuania for the NATO summit.
From Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister, to an ambassador in the US, Moscow is busy sharing its arguments on why it stands against Ukraine’s membership of the military alliance.
Hours before the summit began, Russia also attacked Kyiv.Turkey has been the biggest supporter of NATO enlargement: Analyst
Matthew Bryza, former US State Department official on US-Turkey relations, has told Al Jazeera that he always knew Turkey would agree to Sweden’s NATO accession.
“Turkey has been one of the strongest proponents of NATO enlargement of any member state, including Ukraine and Georgia, but also Finland and Sweden. [President] Erdogan knew he had his moment in the sun, he has maximum leverage now, and after this moment passes accession, he’s going to have zero over Sweden to take the steps he’s been demanding, which are steps against terrorist operatives against the PKK,” Bryza said.
He added that Russia and Turkey’s relations will stay the same as Moscow understands that Turkey is a NATO member.Kremlin accuses NATO of treating Russia like an ‘enemy’
The Kremlin has accused NATO of treating Russia like an “enemy”, saying it will closely follow any decisions taken at the two-day summit in Vilnius.
“Russia is perceived by them [NATO leaders] as an enemy, as an adversary. It is in this vein that the discussions [in Vilnius] will be conducted,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular news briefing.
“We are monitoring this very carefully because much of what has been said will be subject to in-depth analysis in order to take measures to ensure our own security,” he said.
In separate comments, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow was taking “appropriate” measures in anticipation of NATO’s expansion.
NATO diplomats have said differences were narrowing among the allies over Ukraine’s push for membership, but Kyiv will not be invited to join while the war still rages on.North Korea slams US plan to send cluster munitions
North Korea has slammed US President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, referring to it as a “criminal act” and demanding an immediate withdrawal of the plan.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement cited by the official KCNA news agency that the fact that Biden had admitted it was a difficult decision was a sign that he was aware of the consequences of the bombs.
“I strongly condemn the US decision to provide weapons of mass destruction to Ukraine as a dangerous criminal act as it tries to push the world into new calamity, and strongly demand that it be withdrawn immediately,” she said.
Last week, the US announced it would send Ukraine the controversial weapons as part of an $800m security package.
