Washington: According to reports, US Vice President Joe Biden's administration has opposed attempts by some European nations to provide Ukraine with a clear "roadmap" for joining NATO, instead urging allies to concentrate on giving Kiev short-term assistance.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing four unnamed officials involved in the negotiations, that the US is siding with Germany and Hungary by opposing efforts from Poland and the Baltic states to offer Ukraine deeper ties with NATO and explicit support for its future membership in the Western military bloc.

The topic has been discussed this week at a NATO foreign ministers' gathering in Brussels, where preparations are being made for the bloc's leaders' summit, which will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July. Although the 31 NATO members concur that Ukraine cannot be admitted to the alliance in the near future and that membership cannot be seriously discussed given the ongoing conflict between Kiev and Russia, this week's negotiations have made it clear that there is disagreement among them regarding Kiev's postwar status, according to the Financial Times.

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Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has issued a warning that he will only attend the Vilnius summit if he is provided with specific steps for Kiev's accession to NATO, such as security guarantees and closer cooperation with the alliance.

Members of the bloc agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would eventually be permitted to join NATO. The FT reported that at the time, the US was pressuring Kiev to provide a clear timeline and an action plan for membership, but France and Germany baulked due to worries that doing so would anger Russia.

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The offer that Ukraine should receive has not been agreed upon by the diplomats taking part in this week's negotiations. To close those gaps and create a political outcome, "we have several weeks of difficult negotiations ahead of us," one official said. One person added, "The road [to Vilnius] is rocky," though.

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According to the Financial Times, Washington is worried that strengthening alliance ties with Ukraine at this time would support Russian claims that the current crisis is a conflict between Moscow and NATO. Additionally, it might encourage Russia to use nuclear weapons to escalate the conflict.