For Ukraine, an ‘Irreversible’ Path to NATO Clouded by Uncertainty

The path for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — a once distant prospect before Russia launched its full-scale invasion on the country — is now “irreversible,” members of the bloc said from Washington this week.

But even as the leaders of NATO made that bold declaration in a communiqué, many Ukrainian officials and analysts said that promises without actions were insufficient and that the summit had done little to fundamentally alter the course of the war.

The public display of solidarity was welcomed, they said, but it would do little to address the deep uncertainties confronting both Ukraine and the Western alliance.

“There will be many opinions, assessments and comments about the NATO summit in Washington,” wrote Valeriy Chaly, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States and head of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center, in a statement. “To put it briefly: the summit could have been truly historic, but it will not be.”

While Ukrainian officials expressed deep gratitude for the renewed pledges of military support and hope that some of the security agreements announced at the summit would help shape future peace negotiations, many said the failure to formally invite Ukraine to join NATO was emblematic of a deeper indecision by the West over its response to President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of the country.

Also hanging over the summit was the uncertainty of the United States presidential election.

“Everyone is waiting for November,” including Mr. Putin, said President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in remarks at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington on Wednesday.