By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON The White House on Friday said President Joe Biden and fellow NATO leaders will discuss at next week's summit what steps Ukraine must complete to join NATO and that Kyiv has additional reforms to make, as it fights Russian invaders.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, said Ukraine will not be voted into NATO membership at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, but he encouraged Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelenskiy to attend to discuss the matter.
"The NATO summit will dive into the question of NATO's relationship with Ukraine both the question of its pathway towards future membership and the question of an ongoing partnership that has existed for several years," he said.
He said NATO allies are discussing whether Ukraine has moved beyond the need for a Membership Action Plan. Under the MAP process followed by other former communist countries in eastern Europe, candidates have to prove they meet political, economic and military criteria and are able to contribute militarily to NATO operations.
Biden has repeatedly said "there is an open door, that there is a pathway for Ukraine and that Ukraine needs to take additional reforms," to move to NATO membership, Sullivan said. "That remains true today," he said.
Ukraine is hoping to receive a clear signal on its membership prospects in Vilnius. The United States announced on Friday it will provide cluster munitions for use in its counteroffensive against Russia.
Ukraine plans to abandon conscription and move to a professional army after the war with Russia to bring Kyiv closer to NATO standards, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday.
Also topping Biden's agenda in Vilnius will be Sweden, whose accession into NATO has been blocked by Turkey. Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan says Stockholm harbors members of militant groups, namely supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party in Sweden who he accuses of organizing demonstrations and financing terrorist groups.
Sullivan said Sweden will eventually gain NATO membership despite Turkey's opposition. This could happen at next week's summit, but possibly not until afterward, he said.
He said Biden will discuss Sweden with Erdogan at some point during the summit but did not know the format for the talks.
Biden leaves on Sunday for London, the first stop on a three-nation trip centered around the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital. The trip ends with a visit to Helsinki to hail Finland's accession to NATO.
While in London on Monday, Biden will meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and discuss climate initiatives with King Charles at Windsor Castle after skipping the king's coronation in May.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)