NATO Chief Says No Timetable Set For Ukraine’s Membership

An empty flagpole stands between the national flags of France and Estonia outside NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, April 3, 2023. Finland awaits an official green light to become the 31st member of the world's biggest security alliance as NATO foreign ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the leaders of the military organization’s member nations have agreed to allow Ukraine to join “when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Stoltenberg spoke on Tuesday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the alliance’s failure to set a timetable for Ukraine’s membership as “absurd.”

Stoltenberg told reporters that leaders “have reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan.”

He says the decision will change Ukraine’s membership path from two steps to one step but added that Ukraine would join “when allies agree and conditions are met.”