Ukraine live briefing: Ukraine joining NATO is ‘premature,’ Biden tells CNN before summit

NATO member states will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania, this week, with Ukraine’s candidacy and Sweden’s blocked bid to join the military alliance expected to dominate the agenda. Biden heads to Europe on Monday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC’s “This Week” that he plans to be in Vilnius.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects around the globe.

Upcoming NATO summit

• Biden said he wants to lay out a “rational path” for Ukraine to join NATO. He cited increased democratization as a bar Ukraine probably would need to meet, in addition to issues the ongoing war presents. He reiterated his commitment to protecting “every inch of territory that is NATO territory,” which would practically put members “at war with Russia” if Ukraine were to join.
• Biden faces the challenge of uniting allies at this week’s NATO summit, where divisions are mounting over the Ukraine war. In addition to questions over the expansion of the alliance, Ukraine’s demand for an invitation and Turkey’s resistance to Sweden’s membership bid, Biden is also likely to face tensions over the U.S. decision to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine — which has also been criticized by figures within his own party.
• Zelensky plans to go to the summit and try to “expedite” Ukraine’s desired accession to NATO, he told ABC News in an interview that aired Sunday. And Ukraine “should get clear security guarantees” even while it is not part of the defense alliance, he said.
• Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Turkey’s resistance to Sweden joining NATO in a Sunday phone call, the Turkish state media Anadolu Agency reported. Turkey opposes Sweden’s bid because of its view that the Nordic nation has a soft touch with protesters who have burnt Qurans, among other issues. Biden, who supports Sweden’s accession, and Erdogan also discussed Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union and agreed to meet one-on-one during this week’s summit.

Other key developments

• The leaders of Britain, Germany and Spain said they would not send cluster munitions to Ukraine, distancing themselves from the U.S. decision. Canada also opposes the move, an official told The Washington Post, citing an international treaty prohibiting their use and transfer. The United States, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories to the treaty.
• Some Democratic lawmakers criticized the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who is also running for Senate, said the United States would “risk losing our moral leadership” by facilitating the weapon’s use in Ukraine. “When you look at the fact that over 120 countries have signed the convention on cluster munitions, saying they should never be used, they should never be used,” Lee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This is a line that I don’t believe we should cross.” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and former senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) also opposed the decision in a Washington Post opinion article Friday.
• U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday that the dud rate on U.S.-supplied cluster munitions is low and promised assistance with demining “when war conditions permit." Speaking to ABC anchor Martha Raddatz, Kirby argued that Russia has already used cluster munitions in Ukraine, “in an aggressive war on another country, and indiscriminately killing civilians," while the Ukrainians “will be using them to defend their own territory.” The Russian embassy in the U.S. called the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine a war crime late Sunday in a Telegram message.
• Moscow accused Kyiv and Ankara of violating a prisoner exchange agreement after five commanders from Ukraine’s Azov Brigade returned to Ukraine from Turkey, where they had been held after being freed from Russian captivity. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that neither Turkey nor Ukraine consulted Russia about the transfer. Zelensky’s office said he accompanied the men from an Istanbul airport back to Ukraine after a state visit to Turkey.
• Ukraine hailed Turkey’s facilitation of the release of the Azov Brigade commanders, who defended a steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol last year during a nearly three-month siege. Peskov, however, said Saturday that the release breached the terms of an agreement.
• After Russia captured the Azov Brigade commanders in spring 2022, they were transferred to Turkey as part of a prisoner swap. Zelensky said at the time that they would stay there until the end of the war. The Azov Brigade is one of Ukraine’s most adept military units. Formerly an independent, far-right militia with ultranationalist roots, it was designated by Russia as a terrorist group in 2022.

Battleground updates

• Ten people were killed in Russian attacks across the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s national police said Sunday. According to a message on Telegram, 13 people were also injured in the strikes, which hit residential buildings, a shop, a youth center and cars.
• Russia is strengthening defenses on the Crimean Peninsula in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive, Ukraine’s military media center said Saturday on Telegram. Russian troops are carrying out fortifications in the north, west and east of the peninsula, including provisions to prevent attacks on ships and fleet bases, the statement added. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to environmental damage worth $56 billion, the Ukrainian minister for environmental protection said in a statement. Each day of the war, now in its second year, causes more than $100 million of environmental damage, he said, adding that the estimate did not include the destruction caused by the recent breach of the Kakhovka dam.
• Russian air defenses on Sunday intercepted missiles over the regions of Rostov and Bryansk, as well as Crimea, Russian officials in the three areas said on Telegram. The Post could not independently verify the claims and Ukraine did not publicly address the incidents. Russian officials didn’t report any casualties from the missiles or the falling debris.

Global developments

• Polish President Andrzej Duda made an unannounced visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk on Sunday, where alongside Zelensky he commemorated the 80th anniversary of anti-Polish massacres, according to his office. The Volhynia massacres — in which Warsaw estimates 100,000 Poles were killed by Ukrainian nationalists — have strained ties between the countries since World War II. Sunday’s joint service underlines how Russia’s invasion has pushed neighboring countries to directly address old wounds, bringing them closer. Poland has been a major hub for the delivery of aid to Ukraine during the war.
• Portugal supports Ukraine’s NATO candidacy, the two countries said in a statement Saturday, after a phone call between their leaders. Portugal has provided substantial military aid to Ukraine independently and through the European Union initiative. In March, Portugal delivered three Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

From our correspondents

Ukraine pushes to reclaim Bakhmut, fighting on fallen city’s flanks: Russia captured the embattled city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, in May following weeks of fierce fighting — its only significant territorial gain in 2023. But now, its troops are battling Ukraine’s counteroffensive push from the city’s flanks in an inch-by-inch fight, report Fredrick Kunkle and Serhii Korolchuk.

On a recent moonlit night, a four-man Ukrainian squad attempted to float a drone amid the ruins of a kindergarten in a village south of the city.

“We are trying to pin as many Muscovites as possible around Bakhmut,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow with Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies.