Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) joins G7 world leaders on the final day of the G7 Summit on May 21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan. (Stefan Rousseau-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The G7 nations are expected to announce a “significant international framework for Ukraine’s long-term security arrangements” on Wednesday, according to the British foreign ministry.
The G7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — will make the announcement on the edges of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. All those nations but Japan are part of the military alliance. The announcement comes after NATO took an official stance that Ukraine will have no set timetable to join the alliance, much to the consternation of Ukrainian leadership.
There have been hints for several days in media that some form of the G7 would make a security pledge to Ukraine, but details have been kept under wraps. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said only that “the G7 countries are going to make a joint declaration that expresses [support for Ukraine] and that will be fulfilled very concretely by the various countries,” according to an AFP report.
The agreement will be “the first time that this many countries have agreed a comprehensive long-term security arrangement of this kind with another country. Joint Declaration signatories will provide long-term, bilateral security commitments for Ukraine, with the aim of building a Ukraine that can defend its territorial sovereignty both today and in the future,” according to the British foreign ministry statement.
After signing, “partners will provide more defence equipment, increase and accelerate intelligence sharing, bolster support for cyber and hybrid threat defences, expand training programmes and military exercises, and develop Ukraine’s industrial base.” However, tomorrow’s signing may be more symbolic than concrete, as the statement notes “signatories will set out the detail of their long-term commitments to Ukraine under the framework announced today in due course.”
According to the statement, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will use Wednesday’s meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council to “strongly support simplifying the path to Ukraine’s” membership to NATO.
“As Ukraine makes strategic progress in their counteroffensive, and the degradation of Russian forces begins to infect Putin’s front line, we are stepping up our formal arrangements to protect Ukraine for the long term,” Sunak said in the statement. “We can never see a repeat of what has happened in Ukraine and this declaration reaffirms our commitment to ensure it is never left vulnerable to the kind of brutality Russia has inflicted on it again.
“Supporting their progress on the pathway to NATO membership, coupled with formal, multilateral, and bilateral agreements and the overwhelming support of NATO members will send a strong signal to President Putin and return peace to Europe.”
