31 states join declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine, France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain hand draft agreements to Ukraine - President's Office

The joint declaration of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7: USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan) and Ukraine on security guarantees for Ukraine, adopted in Vilnius (Lithuania) on July 12, was joined by 31 states (including Ukraine), France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain have already handed Ukraine the draft agreements.

This is stated in a message from the Office of the President, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

In particular, it is reported that the head of the Office of the President, Andrii Yermak, held a video conference meeting with ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions regarding the status of implementation of agreements on providing security guarantees to Ukraine based on the Joint Declaration of the G7 and Ukraine leaders.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the diplomatic institutions of the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, Albania, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, North Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey and the European Union.

"Andrii Yermak emphasized that 31 countries have joined the Joint Declaration. In particular, bilateral consultations have been started with all the countries of the Group of Seven, the Netherlands and the European Union regarding agreements on providing security guarantees to Ukraine. The head of the President's Office noted that France, Italy, Germany and Great Britain handed over the drafts of the relevant agreements," the message reads.

In addition, according to Yermak, 15 states have expressed their readiness to start consultations on the conclusion of bilateral agreements on providing Ukraine with security guarantees.

Yermak said that out of 27 countries of the European Union, only six (Austria, Croatia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary) have not joined the Joint Declaration. Also, five of the 31 NATO countries have not yet joined the declaration: Turkey, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia. Yermak called to encourage these states to join this important document.

"The declaration made in Vilnius provides not only bilateral agreements. There is also the possibility of concluding multilateral agreements on security guarantees. One of the promising topics may be security in the Black Sea," he said.

The head of the President's Office noted that Ukraine is ready to move from consultations to bilateral negotiations with countries regarding the conclusion of agreements on security guarantees. Yermak emphasized the importance of the legally binding nature and subsequent ratification of the relevant agreements.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President, Ihor Zhovkva, emphasized that during the consultations, Ukraine insists on the need to conclude legally binding agreements on security guarantees for Ukraine.

"Now we are working on the military component of security guarantees. This section should be written in the most perfect way," he said.

Also, according to Zhovkva, the document on security guarantees should provide for effective sanctions, in particular preventive ones, against the aggressor. He emphasized that the current sanctions are still not enough, Ukraine thanks its partners in the EU for the adopted 12th package of sanctions and immediately asks to start work on the 13th package of sanctions.

In addition, according to Zhovkva, bilateral security agreements should provide for a clear response mechanism of partners in case of intensification of russian aggression or repeated aggression after the victory of Ukraine, this mechanism should be coordinated between all the main countries - signatories of bilateral agreements on security guarantees.

Zhovkva emphasized the importance of signing relevant bilateral agreements precisely at the level of the country's leaders.

Yermak noted that provisions on joint defense production will be an extremely important part of bilateral agreements and separately emphasized the importance of reflecting the issue of information security, in particular cyber security and countering disinformation.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on July 12, the leaders of the Group of Seven countries agreed on a joint declaration on support for Ukraine, which is a step towards the conclusion of bilateral security agreements.

In December, Ukraine began consultations with the EU on security guarantees.

Earlier, Ukraine started bilateral consultations with all G7 countries.

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