Despite Turkey's rejection and opposition to their accession, Julian Smith, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, announced today that Finland and Sweden had participated in the upcoming NATO summit in Madrid as non-member invitees.

"Our goal here is to try and see if Sweden and Finland can sit at the table in Madrid as invitees."

"Many of us had hopes to see these two countries join us in Madrid on the table with other leaders, we don't know if this will happen."

The U.S. Ambassador said the United States was working in closed rooms to address Turkey's concerns about Finland and Sweden's possible accession to the Alliance.

The Madrid summit is scheduled to be held from 28 to 30 June and will include discussions on areas including the status of the NATO force and support for Ukraine.