LAST UPDATE | 10 Jul 2024

UKRAINE HAS BEEN the big winner from this week’s NATO summit, with diplomats telling reporters that the eastern European country was on an “irreversible path” towards joining the military alliance. 

The three days of events kicked off last night in Washington, with US President Joe Biden announcing a new air defence system for Ukraine.

“Make no mistake. Ukraine can – and will – stop Putin,” said Biden. ”Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail,” he added.

The White House followed up by saying that Denmark and the Netherlands had begun sending F-16 jets to Ukraine.

Diplomats said the final declaration on Ukrainian membership aspirations – which still had to be formally approved – would support Ukraine on “its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”

The declaration will also repeat previous language that Ukraine will receive a formal invitation to join “when allies agree and conditions are met.”

US President Joe Biden at the NATO summit in Washington Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for membership in NATO, which considers an attack on one member an attack on all.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated today that Ukraine can use long-range missiles supplied by the UK to strike military targets inside Russia.

Starmer told reporters on his flight to Washington that decisions on the use of British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles were for the Ukrainian armed forces.

UK military aid is “for defensive purposes but it is for Ukraine to decide how to deploy it for those defensive purposes”, said Starmer.

FULL SPEECH: President Joe Biden passionately defends democracy, NATO, Ukraine, and rips Putin in a powerful speech at the NATO summit in Washington DC.

Worth a watch in its entirety. pic.twitter.com/z4iDhJn9Ga

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 9, 2024

Biden also said that Russia “wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation” and warned that Russian president Vladimir Putin “won’t stop at Ukraine”.

However, he remarked that “Ukraine can and will stop Putin with our full, collective support”. 

On Monday, Russia launched one of its most aggressive missile strikes on Ukraine, hitting five cities and towns, as well as a children’s hospital in Kyiv – at least 42 people died in the attacks.

Biden has invited Zelenskyy to the summit as well as the leaders of four key Pacific partners – Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand – in a bid to increase NATO’s role in countering China’s influence.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The US president is also hoping that his performance at the summit will reassure voters of his fitness for office amid intense scrutiny of the 81-year-old’s ability to be Commander in Chief.

Meanwhile, Biden will meet with Zelenskyy tomorrow and the White House said the US President will use the opportunity to show “unwavering support” for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy arrived in Washington yesterday and said he will do “everything to make Russia lose” and added that he would be seeking more fighter jets and additional security guarantees.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at the Ronald Reagan Institute on the sideline of NATO Summit in Washington. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Other leaders attending the Nato summit include Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Putin’s closest partners in the West, who ahead of Washington went to Ukraine, Russia and China on a self-described peace mission criticized by Brussels and Washington.

Another Asian partner of the US, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met Putin on the eve of the NATO summit and is not part of the Washington talks.

Leaders on Wednesday will formally convene the alliance’s North Atlantic Council inside downtown Washington’s convention centre.

Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will later welcome their counterparts for gala dinners around the Washington area, which is in the throes of a searing heat wave.

One new NATO leader is British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is visiting days after taking office in a landslide victory by his Labour Party.

He will meet both Biden and Zelenskyy and is expected to confirm Britain’s strong support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been seeking firm assurances that it will one day join NATO, which considers an attack on any member an attack on all.

Ukraine’s membership enjoys wide backing from Baltic and Eastern European nations still haunted by decades under the Soviet yoke.

But Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have led opposition, concerned that the alliance would effectively be entering war with nuclear-armed Russia as it occupies swathes of Ukraine.

Zelensky voiced open annoyance at the last NATO summit in Lithuania at the failure to provide a clearer path to membership.

In Washington, the US is seeking to play down his expectations, speaking of creating a “bridge” to membership but making clear quick entry is not on the cards.

Putin has repeatedly accused the West of antagonizing Russia by entertaining NATO membership for Ukraine, whose separate identity he has rejected.

-With additional reporting from - © AFP 2024 and David Mac Redmond