Although Ukraine formally applied to join NATO last year, all parties have now admitted that Ukraine will not join the NATO alliance before the war in Ukraine ends.
Q2: Will Ukraine receive security guarantees in Vilnius?
However, no clear consensus has yet appeared on what assurances Ukraine’s allies might be willing to offer outside of NATO.
Q3: Have the commitments allies made in Madrid been met?
However, implementation has been mixed and it now seems unlikely these three commitments will be fully met by the Vilnius summit.
Q4: When will Sweden join NATO?
In the short term, however, very little can be done to force Erdoğan’s hand, despite Congress’ attempt to condition the sale of F-16 fighter jets on the ratification of Sweden’s NATO bid.
Q5: What’s happening with NATO defense spending?
The war in Ukraine accelerated the rise in defense spending across NATO, including among European allies who have invested a third more on defense since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Q6: Will NATO get a new secretary general in Vilnius?
The most likely outcome at Vilnius—or before the summit—is that current secretary general Stoltenberg will be asked by allies to extend for a second year, until NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington next July.