Zelensky: G7 declaration should become first legal document on Ukraine's security guarantees
The framework declaration of the Group of Seven countries, if approved in Vilnius on Wednesday, will become the first legal document on Ukraine's security guarantees and will ensure the possibility of concluding relevant bilateral agreements.
"We have no real security guarantees from our partners, I mean legal guarantees. We have actual security guarantees – financial, sanctions, defense. It is very important that this can become the first legal document that symbolizes that we have such an ‘umbrella’ of security guarantees, and then Ukraine will have documents with each security guarantor state," President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Vilnius, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
According to him, the G7 framework declaration will also provide for the right for those countries that are not G7 members to join it and opens up the possibility of bilateral "powerful" documents.
The President noted that bilateral documents on security guarantees should contain everything that Ukraine already has or lacks, such as air defense system or aircraft, and will provide assistance not based on personal relationships, but concrete and legally confirmed.
Zelensky added that these security guarantees should be valid until Ukraine becomes a full-fledged NATO member.
"All the same, we all understand that being in NATO is the best guarantee for Ukraine and Ukrainians. Because there are relevant examples: we do not see – and thank God – NATO member states at war today that are suffering, dying, and defending their states," Zelensky emphasized.
As reported, a two-day NATO Summit is being held in Vilnius.