VILNIUS/WARSAW — The Lithuanian and Polish presidents visited Kyiv on Wednesday, to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and show support for Ukraine’s bids to join NATO and the EU, ahead of summits of both bodies.
EU leaders hold their regular summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday this week, and NATO is holding its annual summit in Vilnius in two weeks. Zelenskiy has been pressing in particular for the NATO summit to include a “political invitation” for Ukraine to join the Western military alliance.
The presidents will discuss “the NATO summit agenda”, Ukraine’s EU membership negotiations and European support for Ukraine, the office of Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda said in a statement.
The office of Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said: “The talks with President Zelenskiy are related to… the current situation at the front, including the threat of a Russian attack behind the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”
“Preparations for the July NATO Summit will also be discussed.”
NATO members are close to agreeing incremental steps to strengthen ties with Ukraine by the Vilnius summit but have yet to resolve differences over how to address Ukraine’s desire for membership.
Lithuania and Poland have been among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in NATO and the EU, and have been calling for accepting it into both. Lithuania is buying NASAMS air defense systems for Ukraine from a Norwegian company. – Reuters
