The Atlantic Alliance summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, will conclude this Wednesday with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the first meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council.
Work will resume at 0900 local time (two hours ahead of mainland Portugal) with 31 NATO Allies meeting and hosting Sweden, Indo-Pacific partners and the European Union.
With Sweden entering the last stage after breaking the deadlock imposed by Turkey on the eve of the start of the summit and clarifications on the first day regarding the possible accession of Ukraine, the last day of the summit will be devoted to “hybrid threats” and, in particular, “Chinese assertiveness”, ” affecting the security” of allies and their partners.
Therefore, such countries as Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia were invited to participate in today’s meetings.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold a joint press conference ahead of the first meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council, according to the official programme.
This council puts Ukraine on an equal footing with the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, although it is not a member.
At the end of the day, the NATO Secretary General will give a new press conference. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa is also expected to speak to the press.
On the first day of the summit, the NATO Secretary General announced that the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO would be made “when there is consent” from all member states and “conditions are met”, and that there was never a timetable.
The host country of the summit, Lithuania, joined NATO in 2004 along with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia and borders Belarus, Latvia and the Russian exclave Kaliningrad.