site.btaNATO Declares Ukraine's Path to Membership Irreversible, Criticizes China

In the declaration adopted within the framework of the NATO Summit in Washington, NATO confirmed Ukraine's path to membership in the alliance is irreversible. The heads of state and government of the countries of the alliance officially pledged that the country will receive military aid in the amount of EUR 40 billion next year, and criticized China's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We intend to provide a minimum baseline funding of €40 billion within the next year, and to provide sustainable levels of security assistance for Ukraine to prevail," reads the communique approved on Thursday in the US capital by the North Atlantic Council, the highest political decision-making body in NATO.

On Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the alliance will provide Ukraine with military aid worth EUR 40 billion. Allies have agreed to maintain this financial commitment in 2026 as a minimum level necessary to meet Ukraine's defence needs against Russian aggression, he added.

However, the EUR 40 billion pledge is not the multi-year financial commitment to support Ukraine that Stoltenberg wanted NATO to approve. The alliance will review its military aid to the country next year.

Bulgarian Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said at a briefing for Bulgarian journalists in Washington that NATO allies will provide funds in proportion to their gross domestic product.

Hungary, which is against military aid to Ukraine, was given the right not to provide such.

NATO leaders said that Ukraine's path to NATO membership was irreversible, but gave no specific timelines. The former Soviet republic will be able to join the Western military alliance when it fulfills the relevant conditions and an agreement is reached between the member countries.

On Thursday, NATO leaders will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council. Zelenskyy arrived in Washington with demands for membership and increased aid, especially in the area of ​​air defence.

On Tuesday, the first day of the summit, the NATO allies committed to providing Ukraine with dozens of air defence systems, including four Patriot air defence systems.

The North Atlantic Council also decided that the pact would begin coordinating military aid to Kyiv. This task, until now carried out by the contact group on Ukraine, led by the United States, will be taken over by the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU). It will be based in the city of Wiesbaden, in the central German state of Hesse.

In addition, NATO will send its special representative to Kyiv, who will coordinate political and practical support for Ukraine on the ground.

As for Russia, alliance leaders condemned its " irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and coercive nuclear signalling", including the announced deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus. At the same time, they expressed readiness to maintain channels of communication with Moscow to reduce risk and prevent escalation.
Belarus was explicitly criticized for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine.

On the other hand, the declaration welcomed the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and the European Union in the context of Ukraine, with the alliance promoting the enhancement of the EU's defence capacity. Developing coherent, complementary and interoperable defence capabilities and avoiding unnecessary duplication is key to making the Euro-Atlantic region more secure.

Alliance leaders have expressed concern over the rapprochement between Russia and China and condemned Beijing's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "The deepening strategic partnership between Russia and the People’s Republic of China and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut and reshape the rules-based international order, are a cause for profound concern," the text reads.

The North Atlantic Council pointed to the importance of the Indo-Pacific region, noting that developments there have a direct impact on security in the Euro-Atlantic region.

On Thursday, the last day of the Washington Summit, the leaders of the NATO countries will have a meeting with the participation of the partners from the Indo-Pacific region and the European Union. The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and the EU have been invited, the US State Department said.

Before the start of the meeting in Washington, China criticized NATO's actions in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the closing statement, the leaders of the alliance welcomed the fact that more than two-thirds of the member countries already spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defence, as Stoltenberg already announced last month.

Bulgaria also fulfills this goal set by the alliance. According to NATO data, this country will spend 2.18% of GDP on defence this year, and Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev expressed his expectation that this share will increase in the coming years.

The statement noted that European allies and Canada's defence spending went up 18% this year, the biggest increase in decades.

NATO leaders also expressed satisfaction with measures to increase the capacity of their countries' defence industries.

They welcomed Sweden's accession to the alliance. The Scandinavian country became the organization's 32nd member country in March.

The NATO Summit in Washington is the last under the chairmanship of Jens Stoltenberg. Later this year, the former Norwegian Prime Minister will be succeeded as NATO Secretary General by the recently appointed Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. This will happen on October 1, exactly 10 years after Stoltenberg took office.

The final declaration states that the next NATO summit will take place next June in The Hague, Netherlands. The next high-level meeting will be hosted by Turkiye. On Wednesday evening (early morning Bulgarian time), US President Joe Biden hosted a dinner at the White House for the leaders of the other NATO countries.