NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance's leaders have not set a timetable for Ukraine to join the bloc, in a disappointment for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy earlier said it would be "absurd" if NATO leaders gathering for a summit did not offer his country a timeframe for membership, after the alliance head said it would send Kyiv a "positive message."
"We will issue an invitation for Kyiv to join NATO when allies agree and conditions are met," Stoltenebrg told reporters in Vilnius on Tuesday.
Stoltenberg's comments reflected the language in a communique issued by NATO leaders on Tuesday at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The declaration adopted on Tuesday said that "Ukraine's future is in NATO" but links a future invitation to join the alliance to democratic and security sector reforms and better interoperability between the Ukrainian armed forces and those of allies.
Asked about Zelenskiy's criticism, Stoltenberg said: "There has never been a stronger message from NATO at any time, both when it comes to the political message of the path forward for membership and the concrete support from NATO allies."
He said previous accessions to the alliance had not been accompanied by a timeline.
"If you look at all the membership processes, there have not been timelines for those processes. They are conditions-based, have always been."
