🔴 Live: Ukraine seeks security guarantees as NATO members gather in Vilnius

8:52am: US to move forward with transfer of F-16 jets to Turkey

US President Joe Biden will move forward with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.

“He has placed no caveats on this … He intends to move forward with that transfer,” Sullivan said but did not give any details on the timing.

Late on Monday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed to forward to parliament Sweden’s bid to become a member of the NATO military alliance, following months of pressure by the United States and its allies.

Some NATO partners believe that Turkey, which requested in October 2021 to buy $20 billion of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernisation kits for its existing warplanes, has been using Swedish membership to pressure Washington on the warplanes.

8:42am: ‘Ukraine has come a long way,’ NATO chief says on removing an accession hurdle

“Ukraine has come a long way since we made the decision in 2008 that the next step would be a Membership Action Plan.  Ukraine is much closer to NATO, so I think the time has come to reflect that in NATO decisions,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday, saying members of the alliance should agree to remove the requirement of a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine to become a member in the future.

“All put together, including that we’ll make clear that Ukraine will become a member, we’ll remove the Membership Action Plan … will send a very strong and positive message from NATO to Ukraine,” he said ahead of the two-day NATO summit that starts in Vilnius on Tuesday.

8:06am: NATO to give ‘path’, but no ‘timetable’ for Ukraine to join

NATO will lay out a path of reforms for Ukraine so that it can eventually join the alliance, but without giving a “timetable,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.

Sullivan was speaking to reporters as negotiators from the 31-strong alliance were finalising a final communiqué to outline Kyiv’s pathway to membership.

A “reform path for Ukraine” will be drawn up but “I can’t put a timetable on it,” Sullivan said.

Separate to the issue of membership, NATO countries are discussing concrete interim security measures to offer Ukraine, beyond the current aid pouring in to help Kyiv’s military push back the Russians.

Sullivan said this would be discussed during a meeting Wednesday between US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

7:26am: NATO smooths path to Ukrainian membership

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has put forward a package that includes the removal of the requirement for a Membership Action Plan (MAP) – a list of political, economic and military goals that other Eastern European nations had to meet before joining the alliance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is expected to attend the summit, wants a clear invitation to join the alliance after Russia’s war on Ukraine ends and security guarantees until that time.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that there had been a consensus among allies to drop MAP, but added: “It is also the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become (a) member.”

4:00am: Russia launches overnight air attack on Kyiv 

Russia launched an overnight air strike on Kyiv, with air defence systems engaged in repelling the attack, Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital, said on the Telegram messaging app.

“The enemy attacked Kyiv from the air for the second time this month, Serhiy Popko, a head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel.

According to preliminary information, Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down all the Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia launched before they reached their targets, Popko said.

There was no immediate information about damage or casualties. Air raid alerts blasted over Kyiv for an hour and longer in other parts of Ukraine’s east, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.

3:00am: Russian diplomats berate US, NATO over Ukraine

The US is pushing NATO to the “most unfavourable” confrontation with Moscow with the decisions expected from the alliance’s summit in Lithuania this week, while Kyiv’s allies are “losing” in Ukraine, Russian diplomats said late on Monday.

The Kremlin has been angered by the solidarity with Ukraine at the NATO summit which starts on Tuesday, saying Kyiv’s potential membership in the alliance would be a threat to Russia and Moscow will react clearly and firmly.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said the United States is preparing anti-Russian decisions at the NATO summit.

“Everything is being done to prepare the local public opinion for the approval of any anti-Russian decisions that will be made in Vilnius in the coming days,” Antonov said in a post on the embassy’s Telegram channel.

12:56am: Zelensky says he understands Ukraine will be in NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he expects the NATO summit in Vilnius to confirm that Ukraine is already a “de facto” member of the military alliance and work out an “algorithm” for Kyiv to officially join it.

“When we applied for membership of NATO, we spoke frankly: de facto, Ukraine is already in the alliance. Our weapons are the weapons of the alliance. Our values are what the alliance believes in. … Vilnius must confirm all this,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“We are still working on the wording, that is, on the specific words of such confirmation, but we already understand the fact that Ukraine will be in the alliance, and we are working to make the algorithm for gaining membership as clear and fast as possible.”

Key developments from Monday, July 10:

Turkey on Monday announced it was withdrawing its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the majority of NATO members stand with his country and that the summit in Vilnius must confirm Ukraine as a de facto member of the military alliance.

Kyiv said that Ukrainian troops had captured key heights around the eastern city of Bakhmut in its counteroffensive.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)