NATO welcomes Ukraine's membership but stops short of invitation

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attend a meeting, on the eve of a NATO summit, in Vilnius, Lithuania July 10, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Pool

VILNIUS (Reuters) -NATO leaders said on Tuesday that Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance at some point in the future but they stopped short of offering Kyiv an immediate invitation, angering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The leaders were meeting at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as Ukrainian troops struggled to make significant gains in a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion forces occupying parts of the country.