TEHRAN- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shifted from his diplomatic woo and charm campaign toward Western leaders by lashing out at NATO's inaction on Kyiv's membership. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, at the conclusion of the summit's first day, said, "we also made clear that we will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met."

The final summit communique said that while “Ukraine’s future is in NATO”, the alliance would only “extend an invitation to Ukraine” when Kyiv had completed certain “democratic and security sector reforms”.

Zelensky branded the decision "absurd", saying the decision by the 31-nation alliance falls short of any clear pathway with timelines for membership that his government has been demanding.

In a social media post before arriving in Vilnius, Lithuania, Zelensky said the wording on Ukraine's membership was discussed without any Ukrainian government officials being present. This gives Kyiv little clarity on when and under what conditions accession will be granted, he added.

Earlier, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign secretary, had said the summit would be “the best moment to offer clarity on the invitation to Ukraine to become a member”.

In the communique, NATO said it had realized the need to move faster on Ukraine but fell short of providing any timeframe for membership. 

The decision to provide no clarity of a timeframe will be seen as a major setback for Ukraine.
Kyiv understood it would not become a member at the two-day summit in Vilnius, but was under the impression it would be offered with a clear timeline on when accession to the bloc will be granted. 

Zelensky had in his earlier statement said Ukraine “deserves respect” and that “It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the alliance.”

In a statement issued after the communique, the Ukrainian President said, “Today I embarked on a trip here with faith in decisions, with faith in partners, with faith in a strong NATO. In a NATO that does not hesitate, does not waste time and does not look back at any aggressor … And I would like this faith to become confidence.”

On Sunday, before the summit, Biden said Ukraine was not ready for NATO membership and that it had to show progress on “democratization” and “a whole range of other issues”. 

U.S. Senator Rand Paul went a step further, branding the statement by Zelensky as "audacious", saying the Ukrainian president might need to change his complaints to avoid alienating his Western allies.

“There’s an old English adage he might need to become aware of: Never look a gift horse in the mouth,” Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, told Fox News. “We’ve given them $100 billion, and he has the audacity to be so brazen as to tell us we’d better speed it up? I’d say that’s audacious. I’d say it’s brazen, and that's not very grateful for the $100 billion that we’ve given him so far.”

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also issued a thinly-veiled warning to Kyiv one day after the Ukrainian president's tirade, saying some of the charges leveled against the U.S.-led alliance were "entirely unfounded and unjustified."

Sullivan added, "I think the American people do deserve a degree of gratitude from the United States government for their willingness to step up and from the rest of the world as well."

The U.S. is by far the largest donor of military support to Ukraine, offering more than $46 billion worth of equipment to Kyiv. 

The reality is NATO's article 5 of its founding charter, that declares every member must agree “that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”. It requires member states to join in defending the country under attack.

The communique’s language strongly indicates the opposition from countries like Germany and the U.S. that commitment too strong could prompt retaliation from Russia and, if Ukraine was allowed to join the alliance while the conflict is ongoing, would ultimately drag some NATO members into a war with Moscow.

The U.S.-led military alliance kicked off its two-day summit in Vilnius on Tuesday by issuing the statement saying that Kyiv would be invited to join NATO only “when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Zelensky said it was "unprecedented and absurd" for Ukraine to be denied a concrete timeline, further highlighting Kyiv's diplomatic failure at the summit. 

Instead, Ukraine has been promised even more military aid to fight Russia on what experts believe to be on behalf of NATO members, in particular the United States. 

It adds weight to the argument by observers that Ukraine, its territory, armed forces and population are being used as a proxy for the U.S. to contain Russia militarily and economically. 

Whether that has been successful is up for debate. Whilst the rest of Europe is struggling with a cost-of-living crisis as a result of the war, Russia has had seen the lowest inflation on the continent. 

This is while, barring the U.S., Ukraine has the largest military arsenal of any NATO member as Western countries have seen their weapons depots depleted, having shipped most of their artillery and other arms to the Ukrainian military. 

European counties are rushing to replenish their own supplies, which is not only leaving them vulnerable, but also wondering rushing to remanufacture equipment to keep up with a war that is dragging on, longer than expected and appears to show no signs of abating anytime soon. 

After securing new pledges for more weapons, Zelensky toned down his language on Wednesday, saying he expects Ukraine to join NATO once the conflict ends, after alliance leaders refused to set a timeline for membership.

"I am confident that, after the war, Ukraine will be in NATO. We'll be doing everything possible to make it happen," Zelensky said at a news conference at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

Most of the weapons that have been shipped to Ukraine are also made in the U.S., boosting lucrative profits for the country's military industrial complex. 

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy's Ukraine Support Tracker, the second largest military donor, by contrast, is the UK, which has provided more than $6 billion in military equipment, earning British arms manufacturers a major source of profit as well. 

But as the arms manufacturers in the West count their profits, there has been no serious peace initiative emerging from the West, which is prolonging the crisis in Ukraine, with both Ukrainian and Russian civilians paying the price of war.