NATO leaders are expected to endorse a declaration of Ukraine's "irreversible path" to membership of the alliance on Wednesday, at a summit being held in Washington this week.
The portion of text prepared for the summit declaration, seen by dpa on Wednesday, is intended to reassure Ukraine that its "future is in NATO." Leaders gathered on Tuesday for the first day of the summit, which is set to continue throughout Wednesday and Thursday.
The text underscores that Ukraine can only join when all current members agree. The United States and Germany in particular are against rushing the process, diplomatic sources within the alliance said. But other NATO member states want to demonstrate that Russia cannot put the brakes on Ukraine joining NATO by waging war against the country.
The text welcomes Ukraine's "concrete progress" on "its required democratic, economic and security reforms," since the last NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius a year ago.
NATO has accepted the idea of Ukrainian membership in principle since 2008, while Ukraine has had its NATO membership ambitions enshrined in its national constitution since 2019.
On the sidelines of the summit, the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark issued a joint statement saying that the transfer of US-made F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands and Denmark to Ukraine was under way.
"The transfer process for these F-16s is now under way, and Ukraine will be flying operational F-16s this summer," the statement issued during the summit in Washington said.
Belgium and Norway have also agreed to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, the statement noted.
Speaking at a drinks reception in Washington on Tuesday, outgoing Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country would supply 30 jets, making Belgium the single biggest contributor of F-16s to Ukraine.
During an event at the Ronald Reagan Foundation in Washington on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was hoping to receive the first F-16s this summer. He said country needs at least 128 fighter jets, as Russia could deploy 300 aircraft per day. Zelensky is also attending the summit.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday opened the summit by announcing that NATO allies would supply additional air-defence systems to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Zelensky thanked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the delivery of Patriot air-defence systems from Germany.
NATO leaders plan to continue to discuss support for Ukraine during Wednesday and Thursday.
The talks follow a ceremony held on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the military alliance in the aftermath of World War II and the onset of the Cold War.
The leaders are expected to discuss outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's plan to provide Kiev with military aid worth €40 billion ($43 billion) in 2025. NATO members have strongly supported Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
According to Stoltenberg, NATO needs to convince Russia that it cannot win its war against Ukraine by waiting for Western support to wither.
But the €40-billion pledge has been watered down from the multi-year financial commitment for Ukraine that Stoltenberg initially wanted. The alliance plans to review the military aid again next year.
The summit is Stoltenberg's last as secretary general. Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is set to take over in October.
Another part of the secretary general's plan to make long-term NATO commitments to Ukraine is a new support project called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), approved by NATO defence ministers in June.
The project, based in the German city of Wiesbaden, is to be staffed by 700 officials. Previously, NATO countries have been coordinating support to Ukraine through an informal, US-led group called the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
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