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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Oliver Browning

Watch live as world leaders address Nato forum on margins of summit

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Watch live as high-level speakers address a series of panel events at a forum organised by Nato on the margins of its leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Earlier on Tuesday (11 July), Joe Biden met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda for an official welcome ceremony at the presidential palace.

His welcome was followed by a bilateral meeting before the summit, which will centre on Ukraine and its bid to join the defence alliance.

Though all allies agree that Ukraine cannot join during the war, a move which would pull the wider West into direct conflict with Russia, the US is seen as most hesitant over its membership.

Mr Biden has described Kyiv’s bid as “premature” while Britain, on the other, hand has indicated support for a fast-track approach for Ukraine.

The US president is also likely to face questions from allies on why he is sending cluster munitions to Kyiv when two-thirds of Nato members have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

It prohibits the use, stockpiling or transfer of the munitions, which deploy a large number of bomblets across a wide area, because of the enduring danger they pose to civilians.

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