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Ukrainian President Zelensky (left) with heads of state and government at the NATO summit in Vilnius
Photo: Nicolas Maeterlinck / Belga / IMAGO
At noon on Wednesday, there is no longer any sign of anger, not even anger. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is standing next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and both seem very harmonious again.
"NATO needs us just as we need NATO," Zelenskyy said during the brief press conference with Stoltenberg. "I am confident that Ukraine will be in NATO after the war."
Just went well again. The scandal has been averted, and the NATO summit in Lithuania's capital will probably end without a rift between Ukraine and its supporters.
Where did the change of heart come from?
But it had sounded very different the day before. Before his meeting with the heads of state and government of NATO, Zelensky once again let out his frustration – about the fact that his country will not become a member of the defense alliance for the time being, that there is no concrete perspective.
It is "absurd" that there is no timetable for Ukraine's accession, Zelensky tweeted. Knowing full well that NATO will not be able to admit his country as long as the war lasts, otherwise it would be obliged to assist and would probably become a party to the war.
"Indecisiveness is a weakness," as Zelensky put it – and the scandal was in the room.
At noon on Wednesday, he sounded distinctly different: the results of the NATO summit were "good" overall, but if we were to receive an invitation, they would be optimal.
How did that come about?
The fact that the Ukrainian president is suddenly acting so moderate in Vilnius probably also has to do with a far-reaching agreement for long-term support for Ukraine. On the sidelines of the summit, the G7 nations signed a framework agreement for long-term support for Ukraine.
In the tripartite "Joint Declaration of Support", the most important industrialized nations assure Kiev that they will support Ukraine with weapons over the coming years, regardless of the course of the war. The aim is to make the Ukrainian army so powerful in the medium and long term that Kiev can defend itself against any aggression in the current conflict, but also afterwards.
No guarantee of safety
Unlike NATO's mutual assistance clause, for example, the document does not contain a security guarantee. Rather, the G7 nations pledge to continue to support Ukraine in the long term and invite other nations to join the agreement.
The aim is for states to conclude bilateral agreements. This can be about the supply of weapons, the training of soldiers, or even economic aid. Germany, for example, is already helping Kiev with loans to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure. Experts believe that hundreds of billions of euros will be needed to rebuild the country.
Nevertheless, the G7 nations are making it clear with the agreement that they want to support Ukraine for decades. Likewise, they assure Kyiv that the major economic nations also want to cooperate with Kyiv at the intelligence level and collect evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Likewise, the G7 nations are announcing that they will continue to tighten economic sanctions against Russia if Moscow does not end the war against Ukraine.
Is that enough? Probably not in the long term – but for now it is enough to prevent NATO and Ukraine from dividing further. In Moscow, it is unlikely to be enthusiastic.