NATO east flank backs Ukraine membership, Poland, Romania and Lithuania say

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS  -  Nordic, Baltic and central European NATO members are committed to Ukrainian membership of the military alliance, the leaders of Poland, Romania and Lithuania said following a summit of the so-called B9 and Nordic countries on Monday.

NATO allies declared their support for Ukraine's "irreversible path" towards membership at last year's Washington summit. But President Donald Trump has since said that prior U.S. support for Ukraine's NATO bid was a cause of the war and has further indicated that Ukraine will not get membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards, and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported last week.

Poland, Romania and Lithuania said on Monday, after a meeting of Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European leaders in the capital of Lithuania, that the region remains committed to the path towards Ukrainian NATO membership, and called for further pressure on Russia, including more sanctions. 

"We stand firm on Allied decision and commitment regarding Ukraine's irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership. Ukraine has the right to choose its own security arrangements and to decide its own future, free from outside interference," they said in a joint statement released on behalf of all meeting participants.

The meeting, held ahead of a NATO summit at The Hague later this month, included Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

 (Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Terje Solsvik, Stine Jacobsen, William Maclean)