Zelenskyy wins crucial backing from Turkey's Erdogan for joining NATO

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was able to bag crucial support from Turkey in its bid to join NATO after the country won a US pledge for cluster munitions that could inflict massive damage on Russian forces on the battlefield. Washington’s decision to deliver the weapons which are banned in most parts of the world except Russia and Ukraine will effectively raise the stakes in the war which entered its 500th day on Saturday. Zelenskyy has been travelling across the globe to garner support and secure weapons for his outmatched army, which has launched a long-awaited counteroffensive that is progressing less swiftly than Ukraine’s allies had hoped. He called the latest US arms package “timely, broad and much-needed”, tweeting that it “will provide new tools for the de-occupation of our land”. Erdogan’s NATO backing for Ukraine’s entry into the military alliance comes a day after Zelenskyy asked NATO leaders to take concrete steps to facilitate the country’s entry into the alliance as he received support during a visit to Prague from the Czech president, who backed Kyiv’s bid to join the alliance. Emphasising the fact that NATO has still not given a clear-cut response on Kyiv’s inclusion with the war still going on strong, Zelenskyy said that his country deserves more than the general statement of more than 10 years standing that the door to NATO was merely “open”. Ukraine hopes to get a clear indication from NATO at a July 11-12 summit in Vilnius if it can join the military alliance when the war ends. While Ukraine seeks a quick entry to NATO in the wake of Russia’s offensive, the military alliance has been divided over how fast that step should be taken. Some member countries are wary of moves they fear could take the alliance closer to active war with Russia. “We are talking about a clear signal, some concrete things in the direction of an invitation,” Zelenskyy told a news conference alongside his Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel. “We need this motivation. We need honesty in our relations.” With inputs from agencies