for the steps that it needs to take including in security sector reform, including in democratic reform, including in anti-corruption. so that s all detailed a national program in the communique. now that program gets updated. and what the communique says is that nato and ukraine will work together on a set of priority reforms to put a special emphasis on moving quickly in certain areas to improve the resilience of ukraine s democracy that will be a joint effort between nato and ukraine, and that s well built into the process of obtaining membership in nato. i want to ask you, because i think it seems like part of the frustration on the ukrainians part and zelenskyy s part is the ambiguity of after the war. what does that look like? when will that be? some say, look, this war will never end. russia will not stop. they were annexing crimea years ago. they re not going to stop. they re going to continue. what does the end game look like in your view?
discussing earlier, is to be in nato so that all of the nato countries, all 32, once we deny is in, to coming to the defense of ukraine with their own troops if need be. and the fact of the matter is no one was really going to be prepared to let ukraine in in the middle of the war. as president biden has frequently said that would put us in direct combat with the russians. and in president biden s view, that s the way on to world warp iii. so that s what he s been trying to avoid. and you ve just this has been bubbling beneath the surface, but you re just seeing it come out in public now. david, i think it s a great point. i want to get you to expand on this a little bit. in covering this white house, this administration, over the course of the entirety of this war, there is the kind of public posture and how they interact with or discuss the relationship
day of a critical nato summit as the war wages on. president zelenskyy meeting with president biden and world leaders as he pleads for more weapons and the invitation to join the nato alliance. he has been frustrated with nato for not giving a clear time line when ukraine can become a member. moments ago with jens stoltenberg zelenskyy softened his tone over nato membership but did not relent. translator: i would like to have success on this summit for our soldiers, for our citizens, our children, everyone. we can state that the results of the summit are good but should we receive an invitation would be the optimum. zelenskyy is set to meet one-on-one with president biden next hour. melissa bell is live in vilnius.
greetings from vilnius. what i was trying to communicate in my answer to that activist was the basic reasoning for why nato, including the united states but all 31 allies were not prepared to admit ukraine into the nato at the summit. nato would be at war with russia today. it would mean that the united states would be at war with russia today and president biden and the other nato leaders were not prepared to do that because they did not see that as a reasonable step at this point. secondly, every member of nato has to meet certain reforms before coming into the eye lieians. ukraine has made reforms in the process. what the alliance said with one voice last night, we look forward to a future with ukraine and nato.
we ll bring you that announcement live, but it likely won t touch on zelenskyy s request, when ukraine can join the nato alliance. joining us now national security adviser to president biden, jake sullivan. thank you for making time for us. i know how busy you are. first i want to ask you about this exchange at the nato public forum you had with the ukrainian activist. it was a tense exchange, and this activist was really questioning the decision by nato including the u.s. not to allow ukraine into nato right now until after the war is over and what the u.s. wants to see from ukraine and you spanneded that, look, you believe the u.s. and americans deserve more gratitude. was that a preview of what the president will convey to zelenskyy in the next hour, and does it highlight the tensions you re feeling and seeing on the ground? well, first of all, thank you for having me on.