The Office of the President announced the project of International security guarantees for Ukraine. What does it mean?

The Office of the President (OP) of Ukraine announced the project of international security guarantees of Ukraine. The document was developed by a group of experts led by the head of the OP Andriy Yermak and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The OPʼs press service writes about it.

The group developed recommendations for the countries of the world regarding the security guarantees that Ukraine seeks to obtain in order to prevent new aggression and oblige the world to support Ukraine and its army in the event of an attack.

The OP emphasizes that these guarantees do not replace Ukraineʼs movement towards membership in the EU and NATO. After becoming a member of the European Union, Ukraine will be able to use the clause on mutual defense of the EU, and after becoming a member of NATO — the clause on collective defense of the Alliance.

Until this happened, the countries of the world should provide Ukraine with clear guarantees that will be mandatory in the event of a new aggression.

Here are the key recommendations of this document:

• Ukraine has the right to protection in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter. For this, it needs the resources to maintain a large army that will be able to repel the aggressor, especially Russia.
• For this, Ukraine needs multi-year investments in its defense capability, in the creation of a defense-industrial complex, and in the training of the Ukrainian military. Cooperation with allies in the field of intelligence and information transfer is also important.
• Security guarantees must be mandatory and can be concluded as bilateral agreements between Ukraine and other countries. But as a result, all of them should be combined into a single Kyiv Security Treaty.
• The agreement should unite the main group of allied countries and Ukraine: the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, as well as the countries of Northern Europe and the Baltic, Central and Eastern Europe. The broader group may also include Japan, South Korea and other countries that will support a set of non-military aid, including sanctions against the aggressor.

To protect Ukraine in the long term, it will need powerful rapid response forces, large-scale training programs for the Ukrainian military, modern defense systems, significant Terrodefense forces, and access to EU funding programs.

Countries that agree to become guarantors of Ukraineʼs security will undertake the following obligations:

• provide financial assistance;
• finance the reconstruction of Ukraine;
• transfer technology and weapons;
• to coordinate military supplies among themselves;
• conduct training of the Ukrainian army;
• cooperate in the field of cyber defense and intelligence.

Ukraine also emphasizes that these guarantees should be indefinite and extend to the entire territory of the country within its internationally recognized borders.

• On March 31, Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced that his country is ready to become one of Ukraineʼs security guarantors. Details will be clarified.
• On April 2, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced his countryʼs readiness to become a security guarantor of Ukraineʼs neutral status.