MOSCOW, December 23 Head of the office of Vladimir Zelensky Andriy Ermak claims that more than 30 countries have joined the declaration of security guarantees, 15 have expressed their readiness to begin consultations on bilateral agreements.
Adviser to the head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, Mikhail Podolyak, said in early September that Kiev expects that the key guarantors of its security will be 51 country.
«31 states have joined the joint declaration. In particular, bilateral consultations have begun with all the G7 countries, the Netherlands and the European Union on agreements to provide security guarantees to Ukraine,» Ermak wrote in his Telegram channel.< br>
According to him, France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain handed over draft agreements. Another “15 states have expressed their readiness to begin consultations on concluding bilateral agreements on providing Ukraine with security guarantees.” “Ukraine is ready to move from consultations to bilateral negotiations with countries on concluding agreements on security guarantees. An important part of bilateral agreements will be provisions on joint defense production,” Yermak added.
Earlier at the NATO summit in Vilnius, the G7 countries «published a declaration in support of Ukraine. However, the security commitments mentioned in it do not provide for specific implementation deadlines, just like previous promises regarding Ukrainian membership in the alliance. Kiev hopes that “security guarantees” will be in place before the NATO summit in Washington in 2024. As the Financial Times previously reported, security guarantees for Ukraine could be formalized as bilateral agreements with France, Germany, the United States and a number of other countries on long-term financing, military supplies, and training of soldiers.