Ukraine hopes to sign a security treaty with the United States before the July NATO summit in Washington. This was stated by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina.

“I think this is possible before (the NATO summit. -

RT

). The relevant negotiations were held at the level of the deputy head of the President’s office, Igor Zhovkva, as you know, (Head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office. - RT

)

Andrey Ermak maintained constant contact with (Assistant to the US President for National Security. -

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) Jake Sullivan. That is, from a tactical point of view, negotiations have been held, a declaration has been strategically adopted, this decision can be made earlier,” Stefanishina said.

Earlier, US State Department spokesman Daniel Isaac said that concluding a security guarantee agreement with Ukraine was “being discussed in the United States,” but a final decision may require approval from the upper house of Congress.

“It can probably be done in other ways. But such agreements typically require Senate approval. Therefore, there are many questions (about how -

RT

) how to do this,” said Sizek in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

However, according to Stefanishina, now all the attention of Kyiv and its Western partners is focused “solely on the decision” of the US Congress to provide Ukraine with the next aid package, “which the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian soldiers need.”

“We must first survive, and then think about how to guarantee our safety. Therefore, we are focused on the decision that should be made in March (by the American Congress -

RT

). We need money, we need to protect Ukrainian cities, we need the “patriots” (Patriot air defense system. -

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) to have shells, and this is simply a matter of life and death. Therefore, we are concentrating on this, and security guarantees will definitely be signed,” she emphasized, adding that in Kyiv they really hope that when “the break in the American Congress ends,” a decision regarding the extension of assistance to Kiev will be made.

As Stefanishyna explained, the United States is “unable to offer a Plan B,” other than providing funding through military assistance to the Kyiv regime.

“Moreover, European countries and Ukraine did not have the opportunity to regroup, since events in the American Congress developed quite quickly, and agreements regarding the distribution of assistance areas were formed in Ramstein for months... That is, those allies who have other obligations cannot quickly regroup and provide Ukraine needs weapons that were planned before support from the United States,” Stefanishyna noted.

  • Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina

  • © AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

At the same time, she noted that in Kyiv they are also drawing conclusions “regarding the reliability” of assistance from the West.

“We draw conclusions for ourselves that we should always have several parallel processes, even realizing that we have firm guarantees from our allies,” the Ukrainian official said.

Agreements with the West

Let us remind you that Ukraine is negotiating with a number of countries on security agreements. In addition to the United States, these are Canada, Romania and Italy. The Kiev regime has already signed similar documents with Great Britain, France and Germany.

Thus, on January 12, London and Kyiv entered into a security agreement, which British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called “the first of a series of new bilateral guarantees” promised to Ukraine by “30 countries.” This document, which has already entered into force and will be valid for ten years, implies mutual obligations. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, this means that not only the British side will help the Kyiv regime in the field of defense, but Kyiv itself will defend London in the event of a Russian “attack” on Great Britain.

Later, on February 16, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, announced the signing of a bilateral agreement on security guarantees between Germany and Ukraine, calling it a historic step. According to him, we are talking about long-term commitments, according to which Berlin will continue to support Kyiv “in the face of Russian military aggression.” In particular, Berlin will help the Ukrainian side “in creating modern, defensively capable armed forces to deter any future attack.” For its part, Zelensky’s office reported that Germany intends to help the Kyiv regime for ten years, during which the signed document will be in force.

On the same day, Kyiv signed an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine with Paris. As French President Emmanuel Macron said, this is a sign of the French side’s determination to “support Ukraine in the long term.”

Kiev believes that these signed documents with London, Berlin and Paris will push the United States to provide assistance to Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky said. According to him, the three agreements “add confidence” to him and Ukrainian society, but are not an “alternative” to the role of the United States in supporting the Kyiv regime. Kyiv wants the United States “at such a moment to still give priority to helping Ukraine rather than the election process,” Zelensky noted. 

However, in Russia the security agreements between the West and Kyiv were called empty.

“Some agreements on general security have been concluded with France and Germany. But they are so vague, without any specifics, rather mocking formulations... In legal terms, this is nothing,” said the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

  • NATO headquarters

  • AP

“Wants to resolve the issue”

As Pavel Feldman, an associate professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, noted, the statement by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishina about plans to approve security guarantees with the United States before the July NATO summit suggests that Kiev is in a hurry to conclude such a long-term agreement with Washington before the Joe Biden administration leaves White house.

“Zelensky is well aware that if Donald Trump comes to power, this will be very problematic. Ukraine wants to resolve the issue of receiving Western military assistance before the start of the NATO summit, where it will once again be popularly explained why immediate entry into the North Atlantic Alliance is a utopia,” Feldman said in an interview with RT.

According to him, a bilateral agreement on security guarantees with the US administration is considered by Ukraine as a backup plan in case of another blocking by Congress of the “long-suffering bill” on providing assistance to Kyiv.

“Biden will not need the consent of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to sign an agreement with Zelensky. However, such an action will only exacerbate inter-party contradictions in Washington and weaken the pre-election position of the Democratic candidate,” Feldman said.

And even if an agreement on security guarantees between Kiev and Washington is signed, this does not mean that Ukraine will “satisfy all its military needs,” the analyst noted.

“Most likely, the document will be of a framework nature. The American side will try to avoid specifics so as not to impose on itself the burden of impossible obligations. If, as a result of the presidential elections in the United States, there is a change in the ruling elite, then all these agreements will lose any meaning. Without formally terminating the security guarantee agreement with Kiev, Trump will simply stop fulfilling it,” Feldman predicted.

For her part, Victoria Fedosova, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, noted in a commentary to RT that with statements about the imminent signing of a document with the United States on security guarantees for Ukraine, Kyiv wants to show that the United States is not abandoning “the Ukrainian project.”

“It was not in vain that Stefanishina’s statement was made against the backdrop of the fact that Congress not only cannot agree on a new aid package for Kyiv, but also took a vacation until the end of February, neglecting Ukraine. Kyiv’s task now is to show its domestic audience, as well as other Western countries, that the United States is ready to continue supporting the Ukrainian regime,” Fedosova said.

  • Flags of Ukraine and USA

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In turn, the general director of the Center for Political Information, Alexey Mukhin, noted in a conversation with RT that the signing of agreements on security guarantees with Ukraine by Western countries does not correlate with their plans to include it in NATO.

“In this whole seemingly logical process, there is a significant inconsistency. If they really want to join Ukraine to the North Atlantic Alliance, in which there is a Fifth Clause of the bloc’s charter on security guarantees for member countries, then the question arises: why all these agreements between Kiev and London, Berlin and Paris, if the Ukrainian republic will still be in NATO? This means that the alliance countries are deceiving Ukraine and are not going to grant it membership. Instead, they conclude agreements on security guarantees, which, as we know, cost absolutely nothing,” the expert concluded.