At the Nato summit on Wednesday, G7 countries are expected to adopt a long-term security agreement with Ukraine.
It will involve weapons, training, and intelligence exchange.
The agreement, according to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will send a “strong signal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It comes after Ukraine’s President Zelensky chastised Nato for failing to provide Kyiv with a timetable for joining the alliance.
Mr Sunak stated that Kyiv’s friends were increasing their “formal arrangements to protect Ukraine in the long run.”
“We will never see a repeat of what happened in Ukraine, and this declaration reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that it is never again vulnerable to the kind of brutality Russia has inflicted on it,” he said.
He added that Nato members’ support for Kyiv’s “pathway to Nato membership,” as well as “formal, multilateral, and bilateral arrangements,” would send a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and “restore peace to Europe.”
No. 10 stated that the United Kingdom played a key role in the accord with G7 partners Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States. More information is expected on Wednesday.
US Vice President Joe Biden previously proposed a model for Ukraine that is similar to his country’s arrangement with Israel. Under that agreement, Washington agreed to provide $3.8 billion in military aid per year for a decade.
However, unlike Nato membership, this does not include a clause requiring the target nation to come to its help in the event of an attack.
The G7 declaration follows Nato’s announcement that Ukraine might join the military alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met,” a delay Mr Zelensky has dubbed “absurd.”
Kyiv recognizes that it cannot join Nato while at war with Russia, but it wishes to join as soon as the combat ceases.
Mr Zelensky told a crowd in Lithuania’s capital on Tuesday, “Nato will give Ukraine security – Ukraine will make the alliance stronger.”
He also delivered a battle flag from the destroyed city of Bakhmut, the location of Russia’s longest and likely bloodiest fight in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky had previously tweeted that “uncertainty is weakness” and that the lack of an agreed-upon timetable meant his country’s eventual membership could become a negotiating chip.
Ukraine needs more than just nice words about joining NATO.
Nato seeks unity in the face of the Ukraine conflict.
Nato may not have announced when or how Ukraine would join the alliance, but diplomats stressed that they had laid out a clear path to membership, with the onerous application procedure greatly simplified.
They stated that they recognized Ukraine’s army was becoming more “interoperable” and “politically integrated” with Nato forces, and they committed to continue supporting changes to Ukraine’s democracy and security sector.
Diplomats also emphasized the formation of a new Nato-Ukraine Council, which met for the first time on Wednesday and will give Kyiv the authority to call sessions of the entire alliance.
However, the decision to provide no timetable is still viewed as a loss for Ukraine.
Some members are concerned that Ukraine’s near-automatic admission will provide Russia with an incentive to escalate and prolong the war.
The attention is now shifting to what long-term security guarantees Nato members will offer Ukraine in exchange for early admission.
Western security guarantees have previously failed to dissuade two Russian invasions. NATO partners hope that a third round of sanctions will be strong and unambiguous enough to convince the Kremlin that further aggression would be too costly.
The NATO summit is being held in Vilnius, Lithuania, over two days.
Turkey dropped its resistance to Sweden joining the military alliance the day before the Vilnius meeting began.
Turkey had previously blocked Sweden’s application for months, accusing it of harboring Kurdish extremists. After Finland, which borders Russia, joined the alliance in April, the country will now become the organization’s 32nd member.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both countries declared their determination to join NATO.
On Tuesday, the summit also announced a number of military supplies for Ukraine.
A coalition of 11 nations will begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly US-made F-16 fighter jets in August at a center to be established in Romania, authorities said.
In May, the US gave its Western allies the green light to equip Ukraine with modern jets, including the long-desired F-16s, a considerable upgrade over the Soviet-era fighters it is presently employing.
Ukraine had repeatedly asked its Western partners to deploy jets to aid in its recently launched counter-offensive aimed at regaining territory lost to Russia.
Experts think it will take time to teach Ukrainian pilots to fly and operate Western jets.
In addition to the G7 security deal, the United Kingdom has announced plans to deploy more than 70 combat and logistics vehicles to Ukraine in order to strengthen its counter-offensive operations.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a wave of kamikaze drone assaults on Kyiv and its environs on Tuesday night for the second night in a row, according to Ukraine’s military.
According to preliminary accounts, there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious destruction.
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