NATO will meet in Washington from Tuesday for a summit, after 75 years of existence, intended to confirm its support for Ukraine, but dominated by the climate of political uncertainty in the United States.
In the wake of particularly deadly Russian strikes, which left more than thirty dead and devastated the country’s largest children’s hospital, kyiv is expecting its allies to finally deliver on their promises.
From Warsaw, where he was on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a “stronger response” to Russia. He is expected in Washington on Tuesday, where he will give a speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute before taking part in ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance, created in April 1949 to respond to the Soviet threat.
“This week in Washington, you will see NATO leaders come together and unite to ensure that Ukraine has sustainable air defense capabilities,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday morning.
“New measures”
kyiv is demanding in particular anti-aircraft defense systems, including Patriot batteries, surface-to-air missiles that are particularly effective against ballistic missiles. Russian strikes have already caused dozens of deaths and destroyed half of Ukraine’s energy capacities.
Without providing details, US President Joe Biden promised on Monday that he would announce, with his NATO allies, “new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses to help protect its cities and civilians from Russian strikes.”
But with four months to go before the presidential election, the 81-year-old American president must also prove, day after day, that he is not only capable of beating his Republican rival Donald Trump, but also of governing the world’s leading military power.
Calls are growing, including within his Democratic camp, for him to give up running again after the calamitous debate at the end of June against his 78-year-old opponent, in which he appeared very tired and confused.
No concerns
And beyond American voters, he will also have to reassure the leaders of the 32 NATO countries, expected for three days in Washington. “I am not concerned,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured on Tuesday. “From my many conversations with the American president, I know that he has prepared this summit very well,” he added.
“Our allies expect American leadership,” and “who else could come?” [à ma place]”I’ve made NATO bigger, I’ve made it stronger,” said a very angry Joe Biden on MSNBC on Monday.
Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023 and this year respectively, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On the occasion of this summit, kyiv also hopes, but without illusions, that its candidacy to join the Atlantic Alliance will advance in Washington, after the frustrations generated by the lack of progress on this point last year at the Vilnius summit. Ukraine wants to receive a formal invitation to join NATO, but several countries, including the United States, oppose it.
On the other hand, it should obtain that this promise of adhesion is “irreversible”, according to a diplomat, specifying however that certain conditions would be added.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured that all the measures in favour of Ukraine, announced at the Washington summit, are elements favouring its entry into the Alliance.
This is a “very serious effort to put Ukraine in a position where it will be ready to assume its role and responsibilities within the Alliance from day one” of its membership, a US official assured.
A prospect that was very poorly received in Moscow, where the Kremlin announced on Tuesday that it would follow with “maximum attention” this summit marking the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.
China, for its part, has slammed NATO’s “smears” and “attacks” after its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused it of supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Several countries from the Asia-Pacific region have been invited to participate in the Washington summit, including South Korea, Australia and Japan.