The United States will not make special arrangements for Ukraine to join the NATO military alliance, President Joe Biden has said, despite Russia's invasion.
"They've got to meet the same standards. So we're not going to make it easy," the US president told reporters near Washington.
The comments come before NATO leaders are set to meet in Lithuania next month.
In a symbolic step, alliance leaders are aiming to hold a first session of a NATO-Ukraine Council with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday in Brussels.
The meeting will give Kyiv a more equal seat at the table "to consult and decide on security issues," Mr Stoltenberg said
But Mr Stoltenberg added that though NATO will tighten political ties with Ukraine at the summit, there will be no talk of membership for Kyiv.
"We're not going to discuss an invitation at the Vilnius Summit, but how we can move Ukraine closer to NATO," Mr Stoltenberg said.
"I'm confident that we will find a good solution and consensus."
NATO nations in eastern Europe have pushed for a better roadmap for Ukraine to obtain membership, but key allies like the United States and Germany have been reluctant to go much beyond a vague 2014 pledge that Kyiv will join one day.
Two killed in Kharhiv strike
A Russian missile strike on a small village in the Kharkiv region in the east killed two people, regional governor Oleh Synehubov has said.
Mr Synehubov initially said on the Telegram messaging app that four people were killed as a Russian anti-tank guided missile hit a car driving towards the village of Huriyv Kozachok, which is near the border with Russia.
Later he gave provided an update, saying that two volunteers - a 42-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman - were killed.
Ukraine liberated many villages and towns in the Kharkiv region last autumn but since then the Russian military has frequently shelled the area, destroying critical infrastructure and injuring and killing residents.
Separately, Russian air defence units repelled a Ukrainian drone attack overnight on a pumping station on the Druzhba oil pipeline in the Bryansk region adjoining Ukraine, the region's governor said.
Three Ukrainian military drones were destroyed in the attackin the Novozybkov district, Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
Drone attacks inside Russia have been increasing in recent weeks, frequently targeting energy facilities.
Russia blames Ukraine although Kyiv does not publicly acknowledge responsibility for them.
The southern branch of the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline crosses Ukraine and, despite the conflict there, continues to supply crude oil to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
The latest incidents come as a high-level African delegation is preparing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day after its calls for talks between Moscow and Kyiv were rebuffed by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
