Biden lands in Lithuania for the high-stakes NATO summit

Joe Biden landed in the Baltic nation of Lithuania on Monday ahead of a major NATO summit as both Ukraine and Sweden seek membership in the 31-member military alliance.

The 80-year-old landed in the capital Vilnius after a trip to the United Kingdom, where he was accused of being anti-British.

Biden was overheard on arrival claiming his London meeting with King Charles “went well,” where the two men discussed climate change and China.

After being greeted by his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda on the tarmac in Vilnius, Biden will immediately wade into another row.

There has been a lot of uproar over Washington’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine, despite more than 100 countries around the world banning these highly deadly weapons.

Britain, Canada, Spain and New Zealand have expressed concern about shipping the controversial weapons to Kiev’s armed forces, and even top Democrats have reacted to the White House decision.

But the commander-in-chief was defiant in an interview with CNN, hitting back at his critics of the move.

He said cluster bombs would help Ukraine expel Russian invaders from its territory and make up for a shortage of traditional munitions.

However, the president seemed to accidentally let it be known that the US was also running out of grenades.

“This is a war about ammunition. And that ammunition is running out, and we’re running out of it,” Biden said.

“And so, what I finally did, I followed the Defense Department’s recommendation to — not permanently — but allow this transitional period while we get more 155 guns, these grenades, for the Ukrainians.”

Biden also hopes Turkey will eventually concede and sign for Sweden to join the mutual defense club amid a row over the deportation of alleged Kurdish militants.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an unexpected move, demanded that the EU clear the way for Ankara’s entry into the bloc before the Turkish parliament approves Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also pushing for guarantees that Kiev will also gain membership, something that Biden ruled out – for now – because it was “in the middle of a war.”

But the country’s chances of joining the world’s foremost military alliance were boosted earlier.

NATO officials have already agreed on an accelerated application process, announced earlier on Monday by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

It means that Ukraine will no longer be required to take part in the club’s membership action plan, a process of major reform required of every potential member.

“After intensive talks, NATO allies have agreed to scrap MAP on the road to membership of Ukraine. I welcome this long-awaited decision that shortens our path to NATO. It is also the best time to clarify the invitation to Ukraine to join,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

It marks a diplomatic breakthrough for Ukraine ahead of Zelensky’s presence at the summit in Lithuania.

He told ABC News in an interview that he wants “effective security guarantees” while it waits for full membership.

A senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “the time is not right for an invitation to Ukraine” because of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of the country.

But the source said the leaders would outline “concrete steps towards membership.”

A paper by ex-NATO chief Ander Fogh Rasmussen and his chief of staff Andriy Yermak last year suggested a Kyiv Security Compact, effectively a shadow of NATO membership, to protect the country and its people from future Russian aggression.

It said it should contain USA, UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia and Turkey, as well Baltic Sea, Central and Eastern Europe.

Ukraine first became eligible for NATO membership in 2008, but was never given a formal process to join for fear Russia would be provoked by such a move.

Under Article 5 of the Alliance’s Mutual Defense Treaty, an attack on one NATO ally is considered an attack on all.

But it is not automatic and the clause requires the approval of all NATO countries to be activated.

That has happened only once since NATO was founded in 1949; in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks and George W. Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan.

DailyMail.com understands that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will use the meeting in Vilnius to tell all NATO allies to spend the agreed 2 percent of GDP on defence.

Only 11 countries met that target: the United States, Great Britain, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia.

But Poland recently announced it will increase defense spending to as much as 4 percent by the end of this year in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.