Der Spiegel has a report detailing the efforts of Germany (particularly Merekel) and France (under Sarkozy) actively blocking any efforts to block Ukraine from joining NATO [1]:

> [2008] was the year that Ukraine was likely closer to becoming a member of the Western alliance than ever, before or since. United States President George W. Bush stood solidly behind Kyiv's accession. But the effort failed, as Zelenskyy made clear, due to the opposition of Merkel and Sarkozy – and an "absurd fear" of Russia. Because of this "miscalculation," the Ukrainian president continued, his country is facing "the most terrible war in Europe since World War II."

There were other European members who had objections or serious reservations.

> Ukraine's parliament repealed its non-bloc status and amended its constitution to enshrine irreversible pursuit of NATO

There was also a period under Yanukovych (a Russian puppet, to be clear) that repealed those efforts, which again changed after the revolution in 2014-2015.

The Vilnius Summit took place in 2023, a year into the war with Russia. As such, I consider it empty platitudes. For one thing, no country can join NATO with active border disputes. I don't see that ever happenign simply because Russia will start a border dispute to avoid that happening.

Even Zelensky recognized the plan as "absurd" [2].

[1]: https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/ukraine-how-merk...

[2]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/zelensky-calls-nato-plan-...