For Ukraine, Lackluster NATO Commitments Ensure Another Year of Grueling War

The NATO summit's failure to provide any further clarity regarding the future of Ukraine's membership prospects or alternative security guarantees will fuel the war's continuation and embolden Russia's current strategy of continuing the war to degrade Ukraine. On July 11, the first day of the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg presented a three-part plan to ''bring Ukraine closer'' to the Western security alliance. The plan enshrines a multi-year assistance program to ensure full interoperation between NATO and Ukrainian forces, along with a Ukraine-NATO Council to allow regular interaction with Ukraine at a higher level (the first meeting of the council took place on July 12). It also eliminates the Membership Action Plan (MAP) process as a prerequisite for Ukraine's membership in the alliance, which both Ukrainian and Western officials framed as a concession to Kyiv that showed that the country's eventual path to membership had become...