NATO prepared to back Ukraine war bid, but membership on hold

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda at the NATO summit. Pic/AP

NATO leaders gathered Wednesday to launch a highly symbolic new forum for ties with Ukraine, after committing to provide the country with more military assistance for fighting Russia but only vague assurances of membership.

US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts will sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body where the 31 allies and Ukraine can hold consultations and call for meetings in emergency situations.

The setting is part of NATO's effort to bring Ukraine as close as possible to the military alliance without actually joining it. On Tuesday, the leaders said in their communique summarising the summit's conclusions that Ukraine can join "when allies agree and conditions met". The ambiguous outcome reflects the challenges of reaching consensus among the alliance's current members while the war continues, and has left Zelensky disappointed.

Threat to pull out of grain deal a cause for concern

Concerns are growing that Russia will not extend a United Nations-brokered deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to parts of the world struggling with hunger, with ships no longer heading to the war-torn country's Black Sea ports and food exports dwindling.

Turkey and the UN negotiated the breakthrough accord last summer to ease a global food crisis, along with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertiliser. Moscow insists it's facing hurdles, but data shows it has been exporting record amounts. Russian officials say there are no grounds for extending grain initiative, which is up for renewal on Monday.

China raises concerns over NATO expansion

China has renewed its concern about NATO's eastward "expansion" as the alliance wraps up its summit in Lithuania on Wednesday. A joint communique from the Atlantic alliance a day earlier said China's "stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values," while indicating that NATO members "remain open to constructive engagement" with Beijing. China issued a strong rebuttal, saying it would "resolutely safeguard its sovereignty".

Ukrainians training in survival skills

Pic/AP

In a cramped municipal building in a residential area of the Ukrainian capital, a group of people take turns training to shoot using a replica of a machine gun with the help of a weapons training simulator relying on virtual reality. The nearly 20 participants - all of them civilians and most of them women - have never held a weapon before.

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