Ukraine will receive a NATO invitation when allies agree, Zelensky furious, White House believes conditions not met!

(Patria) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said today at a press conference in Vilnius that the Alliance will invite Ukraine to join "when allies agree and when conditions are met."

He added that the accession process will not have two stages, but only one.

White House response to Zelensky's anger

Ukraine still must meet a number of conditions before it can join NATO, John Kirby, national security adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, said today.

This was the U.S. response to sharp comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who criticized NATO leaders because Ukraine, by all accounts, will not receive a timeline for joining the North Atlantic Alliance at the Alliance's summit currently underway in Vilnius.

"We believe that NATO is in Ukraine's future. That is something the Alliance agreed to back in 2008," Kirby told CNN. "Now there are reforms - good governance, rule of law, political reforms - that Ukraine needs to work on, and we understand that it is difficult to work on some of those reforms when you are at war. Of course, they are at war now. NATO membership in the near future is therefore not likely because that would put NATO at war with Russia," he added.

Nevertheless, Kirby acknowledged that he understands Zelensky's frustrations, who on Twitter expressed sharp criticism of discussions about a possible path to NATO membership at the summit in Lithuania, writing: "Uncertainty is weakness."

"Yes, there are frustrations, desires to end this war quickly, we understand all that," Kirby said, adding: "Of course, we share many of those concerns."