Biden, NATO chief huddle on Ukraine membership as Zelensky bashes alliance for not setting time frame

President Biden and NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg engaged in talks Tuesday about Ukraine joining the alliance, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bashed NATO for not setting a timeline for his war-torn country to join.

“We agree on the language that … you proposed, relative to the future of Ukraine being able to join NATO,” Biden said in remarks in Vilnius, Lithuania, ahead of his meeting with Stoltenberg. “And we’re looking for a continued united NATO.”

Minutes before their remarks, Zelensky said on Twitter that he “received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine.”

“I would like to emphasize that this wording is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine’s membership,” Zelensky said. “It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.”

The Ukrainian president, who is on his way to Vilnius for the summit, said, “it seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance.”

Biden said last week that Ukraine wasn’t ready for a NATO membership. In an interview with CNN, he said NATO members have a responsibility to defend each other, something he said Ukraine could not do while fighting a war against Russia.

Zelensky and Biden are expected to meet one-on-one in the coming days at the summit.

“Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit,” Zelensky said Tuesday.

Biden got a major boost Monday in his efforts to project NATO’s unity when he secured Turkey’s backing to allow Sweden into the alliance. Turkey had delayed the membership, but Stoltenberg announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to support Sweden’s inclusion.

“Adding Finland and Sweden to NATO is consequential,” Biden said at the top of his meeting with Stoltenberg on Tuesday. “Your leadership really matters.”

Biden did not answer questions from reporters about his role in getting Turkey to agree to allow Sweden into NATO. He is set to meet one-on-one with Erdoğan later Tuesday.