Nato allies agree make Ukraine a member - but entry date yet to be decided

Nato allies have agreed to make Ukraine a member - although its entry date into the alliance has yet to be decided.

It comes after Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared that Ukraine's "rightful place" is within the organisation during his first visit to Kyiv since Russia's invasion.

Ukraine has yet to accept the invitation, but that hasn't stopped Stoltenberg pledged more support for the country.

The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but during Thursday's visit Russia said preventing Ukraine from joining Nato is still a key goal of its invasion.

It argues Kyiv's membership of the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia, but Moscow's aggression has driven Finland, which shares a border with the country, to join.

Nato leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Mr Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the war, although no pathway or timetable for membership has been established.

He told a news conference: “Let me be clear, Ukraine’s rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” Mr Zelenskyy said he was grateful for an invitation to a Nato summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania, but said his country needs a roadmap for becoming a member. “The time has come for the (alliance’s) leaders to define the prospects of Ukraine’s acquisition of Nato membership, to define the algorithm of Ukraine’s movement towards this goal, and to define security guarantees for our state for the period of such movement — that is, for the period before NATO membership,” he said.

Mr Stoltenberg said he and Mr Zelenskyy discussed a Nato support program for Ukraine. “This will help you transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to Nato standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance,” he added.

"NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.” He noted an announcement Thursday by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks by early 2024. He added that he expected countries to “make new announcements of concrete military support to Ukraine” at a meeting Friday in Germany.

The fighting in recent months has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum.

But Ukraine has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies and is expected to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could use “all means available” — a phrase some see as a threat to use nuclear weapons — in response to an attack on its territory if Ukraine attempts to recapture Moscow-occupied areas. Nato has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only nonlethal support to Kyiv, but Mr Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war.

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A number of individual Nato members including Britain has provided military support to the country.

A procession of international leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the last year, and Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister is one of the last major Western figures to do so. NATO, formed to counter the Soviet Union, has long feared being dragged into a wide war with nuclear-armed Russia.

But as the West has moved from hesitantly providing helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and advanced missile systems, high-level visits have become routine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its “special military operation.”

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Peskov said that Ukraine’s accession would pose a “serious, significant threat to our country, to our country’s security.”