Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed an agreement on security guarantees that will remain in force until Ukraine joins NATO.
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The Group of Seven (G7) countries at the NATO summit in Vilnius adopted a declaration according to which each of the G7 member countries pledged to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. Thus, Great Britain became the first of the G7 countries to conclude a corresponding agreement.
In particular, the agreement, which the British authorities call “historic”, stipulates that in the event of a new attack on Ukraine, the UK will provide Kyiv with “prompt and continuous” defense assistance.
The agreement also formalizes the assistance London already provides to Ukraine, including intelligence sharing, cooperation in the areas of cybersecurity and defense industry, training of medical workers and military personnel.
Today is the day when the history of Europe changed. Ukraine and the United Kingdom have entered into a new and unprecedented security agreement. This is not just a declaration. This is a reality that will come thanks to our cooperation, and in particular, security guarantees from the outstanding global power of Great Britain,” Zelensky said after the meeting with Sunak.
The President also added that if Ukraine had been provided with similar guarantees in 1991, the war would not have started.
At the same time, Zelensky and Sunak disagreed on whether it was possible to talk about “security guarantees” from Britain.
At a press conference after the signing of the agreement, Zelensky, when describing it, used exclusively the word “guarantees” or the phrase “safe guarantees.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chose a different term and emphasized several times that we are talking specifically about “security assurances.”
As is clear, this terminology has fundamental political significance. For Ukraine, the mention of “safe assurances” is toxic, since this is the term contained in the title of the infamous Budapest Memorandum.
That is why Ukraine insists on accepting “safe guarantees” – which, however, its partners are not ready for.
Let us remind you that the UK announced that it will allocate 2.5 billion pounds sterling in military assistance to Ukraine in the 2024 financial year. According to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the package will include additional air defense equipment, additional anti-tank weapons, additional long-range missiles and thousands of shells.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.