In particular, several Allies used the NATO summit in Vilnius (Lithuania) to make new announcements in favor of Kiev.
“Ukraine’s future lies in NATO.” At a summit in Vilnius, some 35 km from the border with Belarus, an ally of Moscow, on Tuesday, July 11, members of the Atlantic Alliance sought pledges to Ukraine do, contrary to the expectations of their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called for a membership timetable. Franceinfo takes stock of what can be remembered from that day of the conflict in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy calls for Ukraine to join NATO
Amidst applause by a crowd waving Ukrainian flags, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a plea for his country’s entry into NATO on a stage in central Vilnius, Lithuania, on the sidelines of a Pact summit on Tuesday. “NATO will provide Ukraine with security. Ukraine will strengthen NATO,” he announced to loud applause in a 10-minute speech, which was translated into Lithuanian. A Ukrainian flag was then raised on a pole, which was brought to the Lithuanian capital by a relay squadron from Bakhmout, the scene of a long siege and the epicenter of fighting with the Russian army.
NATO evokes membership without a timetable
After tough negotiations, NATO members discussed Ukraine’s membership in the alliance. “We will be able to send Ukraine an invitation to join the alliance once the allies have decided and the conditions are met,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting, which lasted several hours.
A few hours earlier, just before landing in Vilnius, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had issued a particularly vicious tweet denouncing the alliance’s delay, almost 18 months into the Russian invasion. “It seems that there is neither the will to invite Ukraine into NATO nor to make it a member of the alliance,” he said. He considered it “absurd” that his country had no timetable for membership and that this encouraged Moscow to “continue its terror in Ukraine”.
Several countries announce new arms shipments
Several allies used the meeting in Vilnius to make new announcements in favor of Kiev. Berlin has thus committed to supplying Ukraine with additional arms worth almost 700 million euros. In particular, Germany will supply launchers for the Patriot air defense system, Marder armored vehicles, Leopard 1 A5 tanks and artillery shells.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the delivery of long-range Scalp missiles to Ukraine. Developed jointly by Great Britain and France, this cruise missile is launched from the air. The range is more than 250 kilometers, more than any other weapon Western countries have supplied to Kiev. Paris pointed out that shipments of the first SCALPs to Ukraine have already begun, without giving any details on the quantities already shipped or to come.
“From our point of view, this is a wrong decision with serious consequences for the Ukrainian side, since it will, of course, force us to take countermeasures,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
Ukraine announces a “coalition” to train its pilots
Ukraine has announced it will form a “coalition” of 11 countries to train its pilots in F-16 fighter jets that Kiev is requesting delivery to support its frontline counteroffensive. “A coalition for F-16 training of the Ukrainian Air Force has been formed! Today, 11 partner countries and Ukraine signed a memorandum,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted. This coalition includes the UK, Canada and European countries.
Russia claims to have made a 1.5km breach to the east
The Russian Defense Minister said on Tuesday that Russian troops had made a breakthrough in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. After repelling a Ukrainian offensive, “Russian units launched a counterattack and advanced 1.5 kilometers deep on a 2-kilometer front” near Lyman, a town recaptured from the Ukrainian army in October 2022, Sergei Shoigu said on TV. Ukrainian troops last week reported Russian attacks around Lyman, a major railroad junction about 50 kilometers northeast of Kramatorsk, the main Ukrainian-controlled city in the east of the country.
Sergei Shoigu added that Ukrainian forces continued “trying to break through our defenses in different areas” and said there had been “waves of attacks” over the past two days. But “the enemy has not achieved its objectives in any area” since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in early June, the defense minister said.