Ukraine wants a “clear path” to Nato at the upcoming summit in Vilnius, but Germany and the US are reluctant to give it an explicit commitment as the accession question splits the Nato membership.

The next Nato summit will take place in Vilnius on July 11-12, where the main focus will be the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the allies to offer Ukraine a “clear signal” on Ukraine’s Nato admission at the summit and threatened not to attend if no signal was forthcoming. Yet Berlin and Washington remain very reluctant to commit to any concrete promises of Nato membership for Ukraine at this time.

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, says the route to the Alliance will be “shortened,” and some important decisions have already been made. At the same time, the minister added, there is still a lack of clarity regarding Ukraine's invitation to join. 

Germany plans to postpone Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance during the upcoming summit in Vilnius on July 11-12 for fear that Ukrainian membership will lead to a war between the bloc and Russia, according to a Nato official who spoke with British newspaper The Telegraph.

“Berlin is stand-offish at the prospect of offering immediate membership,” sources told The Telegraph. “It wants a process and time to develop guarantees to essentially block membership. Berlin doesn’t want to see Vladimir Putin potentially test [Nato’s] Article 5.”

Biden also said that Ukraine is not yet ready to join Nato, calling the prospect of its membership in the international alliance “premature” amid its war with Russia.

“I don’t think it’s ready for membership in Nato,” Biden said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired on July 9. “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.”

Germany plans to call on Nato members at the summit to focus on increasing security guarantees, rather than on a potential membership bid, The Telegraph reported. Berlin said earlier that Nato membership can’t be considered until the war is over.

"Time is needed to develop guarantees that would essentially block membership... Berlin does not want Putin to potentially test Article 5," a source told The Telegraph.

According to The Telegraph, Germany will insist on delaying Ukraine's accession to Nato due to fears that this step could lead to a war between the alliance and Russia. Berlin will use the Vilnius summit to urge participants to focus on security guarantees.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in June Ukraine and its allies were still "very far away" from being able to secure peace in the country but added that any future Western security guarantees to Ukraine needed to be different from the status of European Nato members.

"Given the current situation, it is not about establishing a membership ... We all have to focus on how we as individuals can support Ukraine," Scholz said at a news conference at the second meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Moldova.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also called for stronger security agreements for Ukraine for the post-war period ahead of Ukraine’s eventual accession to the military alliance.

Likewise, Biden says that he wants to avoid a situation where "we are all at war with Russia". He also believes that Ukraine is "not ready" for Nato membership.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has been more outspoken and expects that the allies will make a clear signal to invite Ukraine to join Nato at the summit in Vilnius and approve a multi-year support programme. Any decision on membership can only be made by Nato member countries and must be unanimous. 

In his interview, Biden added that Ukraine still has work to do to meet all of the qualifications for membership, cautioning the process is “going to take a while”. But he reiterated a promise to provide the country with security guarantees in the interim, stressing that the US would ensure Ukraine has the weaponry it needs to defend itself against Russia.

Controversially, the US has just agreed to cluster munitions to Ukraine, a decision that has split Nato, as cluster bombs are widely seen as illegal by other Nato members. Washington said it was crucial to provide Kyiv with more artillery, as Ukraine is running out of conventional 155mm shells.

Biden is also on the road ahead of the Vilnius summit and left on July 9 for an international trip that will include the Nato summit in Lithuania.

“It was a very difficult decision on my part,” Biden told CNN regarding the approval of the cluster munitions. “But the main thing is, they either have the weapons to stop the Russians now from their – keep them from stopping the Ukrainian offensive through these areas, or they don’t. And I think they needed them.”

Zelenskiy is currently touring Europe to shore up support for Ukraine’s accession to Nato bid.

Countries are split about whether to support a Ukrainian membership bid, with some offering full support for Ukraine and others remaining weary about the potential drawbacks of sponsorship.

Zelenskiy took his Bulgarian peer Rumen Radev to task over his stance against sending military aid to Kyiv at a heated press conference during Zelenskiy’s visit to Sofia on July 6.

Zelenskiy visited Bulgaria mainly to meet the new pro-Western and pro-Ukrainian government, but clashed openly with the Russia-oriented Radev. 

The visit, seen as a historic event for Bulgaria, came shortly after the new government was installed, and on the same day that the majority in Parliament adopted an official resolution supporting Ukraine’s accession to Nato once the war is over. The reformist government of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov has also pledged more decisive help for Kyiv. 

Zelenskiy flew to the Czech capital from Bulgaria on July 6, in a surprise visit which continued through to Friday 7 July,  with cabinet talks and meetings with Czech Senate and parliamentary leaders. It is the first time in 14 years that a Ukrainian leader has officially visited Czechia.  

At a press conference at Prague Castle, Zelenskiy thanked Czechs for the “warm welcome” and for the support of Ukraine, specifically saying: “Thank you for helping our children”. He also warned against malign propaganda in Czechia, stating: “Russian propaganda has very destructive outcomes”.