U.S. Defense Secretary Urges Swift NATO Membership for Sweden

MUSKO NAVAL BASE, Sweden — With Finland now officially in the fold of NATO, the Biden administration turned its attention on Wednesday to neighboring Sweden, another long-neutral nation that now wants to join the military alliance.

During the first visit to Sweden by an American defense secretary in 23 years, Lloyd J. Austin III promised to work for Stockholm’s “swift accession” to NATO and said he hoped that objections to the country’s NATO membership would be ironed out by midsummer, when members of the alliance meet in Lithuania.

“We’ll work hard to get that done before the summit,” Mr. Austin said.

Like Finland, Sweden decided to abandon its neutrality after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before it can join the alliance, however, it must first win over two holdouts, Turkey and Hungary, since all NATO members have to agree to a nation’s inclusion.

Mr. Austin’s visit came as military officials in Washington announced that the United States was sending another weapons package to Ukraine to shore up its munitions and logistical supplies in advance of an expected counteroffensive.

The $325 million package includes ammunition for HIMARS rocket systems, artillery rounds, anti-armor weapon systems and antitank mines. Two weeks ago, the Biden administration announced a $2.6 billion package that included munitions for Ukraine’s air-defense systems.

Ukraine’s allies were also working on Wednesday to keep its supplies of grain, disrupted by the war, moving out to the world.

The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, proposed a financial assistance package of 100 million euros, or about $110 million, for farmers affected by a glut of Ukrainian grain. The goal was to quell growing tensions after four eastern E.U. nations moved to block Ukrainian grain entirely in recent days.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, acknowledged that the shipments of Ukrainian grain had “unintended consequences” but said any economic pressure “should not erode our unwavering support for Ukraine.”

Russian officials have tried to cast their unprovoked attack on their neighbor as at heart a defense war, with President Vladimir V. Putin protesting NATO’s eastward expansion over the years. But the invasion, it appears, has boomeranged for the Kremlin, resulting in a NATO that, with the addition of Finland, is not only larger, but also closer.

Sweden’s application has proved more complicated.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has objected to its membership, questioning Sweden’s commitment to fighting terrorism. Mr. Erdogan has called for Sweden to extradite figures he describes as terrorists, including Kurds and others he believes supported a 2016 coup attempt against him.

Hungary has its own grievances. Its government has been stung by Swedish criticism about the erosion of the rule of law under Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban. Mr. Orban is also an ally of Mr. Putin’s, and his country is dependent on Russia for energy.

On Wednesday, Mr. Austin urged the quick admission of Sweden into NATO. He said it was important that Turkey — considered the key to a resolution — decide to allow Sweden to join the alliance “sooner versus later.”

There was no immediate public response from Turkey or Hungary to Mr. Austin’s comments.

With its accession to NATO, Finland now falls under the protection of the alliance’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one member country is an attack on all. NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that he would expect the alliance to also defend Sweden — but that is far from certain.

Meeting with Mr. Austin, the Swedish defense minister, Pal Jonson, alluded to that uncertainty, though he noted that over the past year, American Marines have been in and out of Sweden, participating in military exercises. The United States has also sent a number of warships, including the enormous U.S.S. Kearsarge, which was moored in the middle of Stockholm’s harbor last summer as a potent symbol of U.S. support.

“You have, during this transition time into NATO, also provided the very important naval assets and aerial assets in a continuing basis, which has reassured us,” Mr. Jonson said.

After a visit to Musko Naval Base, near Stockholm, Mr. Austin boarded a warship, the H.M.S. Harnosand, for a tour of the Swedish archipelago, which consists of tens of thousands of mostly uninhabited islands in the Baltic Sea. The islands are important militarily, officials say, because should Sweden join the alliance, the Baltic Sea would be encircled by NATO countries, save for the Russian areas around Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg.

The Swedish military put on a show of power for the visiting defense secretary, with fighter jets buzzing Mr. Austin’s ship and helicopters roaring as marines launched amphibious assaults on an island nearby as gunfire echoed. A few minutes later, a submarine emerged from the water and warships circled the ship carrying Mr. Austin.

In Ukraine on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the northwestern region of Volyn, which abuts Belarus, an ally of Moscow’s. Russian forces used Belarus as a staging ground for their initial assault on Ukraine last year, and since then Belarus has served as a launchpad for Russian aerial attacks.

Mr. Zelensky offered words of praise for the border security service.

“Keep the power, justice and fury we have in defending our state,” he said in comments published on the Telegram messaging app.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.