Hear why Biden thinks Ukraine is not ready to join NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania to attend NATO's annual summit. Prior to his arrival, Zelenskyy criticized NATO for not providing a concrete path for his country to achieve membership. CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports.

VILNIUS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday denounced NATO negotiators for balking at offering Kyiv a concrete path to joining NATO in a draft communiqué being hammered out at an alliance summit.

The alliance’s leaders are gathering in the Lithuanian capital for a two-day summit, and Ukraine’s bid to join NATO is the most sensitive item on the agenda.

In the latest draft summit communiqué, allies are now considering stating that “we will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine when allies agree and conditions are met,” according to a senior NATO diplomat and a person familiar with the talks, who like others were granted anonymity to discuss internal negotiations.

The language is not yet finalized, but the draft seen by Kyiv on Tuesday enraged Ukraine’s leader.

“We value our allies,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “But Ukraine also deserves respect.”

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine,” he added.

NATO allies are seeking a compromise that would both send Ukraine a public signal that it is moving closer to the alliance and placate allies — in particular Washington and Berlin — who are hesitant about making promises right now that would make post-war membership automatic.

But the Ukrainian leader, who is expected to attend the summit in Vilnius, is pushing for more.

“It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” he wrote. “This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia. And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror.”

U.S. President Joe Biden told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday that he agrees “with the language you proposed relative to the future of Ukraine joining NATO.”

The Ukrainian leader’s tweet did raise eyebrows in Vilnius.

“I am critical of many aspects and particularly of some allies’ attitude, but I think that this is not a thoughtful and fair approach,” said one senior diplomat from Central Europe, adding that Zelenskyy “is going too far.”

WH National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan joins Morning Joe to discuss the NATO summit in Lithuania, Sweden's entry into NATO and Ukraine's bid for joining NATO.