The United States and global allies unveiled new security assurances for Ukraine at a NATO summit on Wednesday, designed to bolster the country's defences against Russia over the long haul while Kyiv strives for membership of the alliance.
The prospect of long-term protection from members of the world's most powerful military bloc comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy decried as "absurd" a refusal to offer an invite or timetable for Ukraine's entry into NATO.
Ukraine has been pushing for rapid membership while fighting a Russian invasion unleashed in February 2022 that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
Instead, a declaration by the G7 grouping of the world's most industrialised countries launched a framework for bilateral negotiations to provide military and financial support, intelligence sharing and a promise of immediate steps if Russia should attack again.
"Our support will last long into the future. It's a powerful statement of our commitment to Ukraine," President Joe Biden said alongside Zelenskiy and leaders of the G7, which is made up of the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and Britain.
"We're going to be there as long as that takes."
Swallowing his disappointment over the lack of a membership timetable, Zelenskiy called the outcome a "meaningful success" and followed a flurry of announcements of military aid for Kyiv.
"Today there are security guarantees for Ukraine on the way to NATO," he said. "The Ukraine delegation is bringing home a significant security victory for Ukraine."
Nevertheless, Zelenskiy pressed for more, and said he would raise Ukraine's need for long-range weapons at a meeting with Biden at the summit.
"We can state that the results of the summit are good, but if there was an invitation, they would be ideal," Zelenskiy added.
At a bilateral meeting, Biden promised Zelenskiy the United States was doing everything it could to meet Ukraine's needs and acknowledged Zelenskiy's "frustration" about the scale and speed at which he was receiving support.
"Your resilience and your resolve has been a model for the whole world to see," Biden said. "I look forward to the day when we're having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership in NATO."
"The bad news for you is, we're not going anywhere. You're stuck with us," Biden joked, prompting laughter from Zelenskiy.
Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. have been negotiating with Kyiv for weeks over a multilateral text that would create a broad international framework, encompassing elements including modern advanced military equipment, such as fighter jets, training, intelligence-sharing and cyberdefence.
In return Ukraine, would pledge improved governance measures, including through judicial, economic reforms and enhanced transparency.
'ASSURANCES MUST BE CREDIBLE'
NATO, an alliance built around mutual security guarantees - the concept that an attack on one is an attack on all - has carefully avoided extending any firm military commitments to Ukraine, worried it would risk taking it closer to a full-on war with Russia.
Ukraine has been wary of any less-binding security "assurances", given Russia's invasion already trampled the so-called Budapest Memorandum under which international powers committed to keeping the country safe in exchange for Kyiv giving up its Soviet-era nuclear arms.
Speaking earlier alongside Zelenskiy, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine was closer to the alliance than ever before, and brushed aside new warnings from Russia about the consequences of supporting Ukraine.
"Ukraine has the right to choose its own path", Stoltenberg said, adding: "It is not for Moscow to decide". The security assurances for Ukraine had to be "credible", he said, in order to deter Russia from future attacks.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the security arrangements for Ukraine were not designed to be a substitute for full NATO membership and said the commitments at the summit marked a high point for the West's support for Kyiv.
MORE ARMS
On Wednesday, Zelenskiy was holding bilateral meetings with the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, Japan and the Netherlands on the sidelines of the second day of the NATO summit in Vilnius to secure more arms for his counteroffensive.
"More weapons for our warriors, more protection of life for the whole of Ukraine! We will bring new important defence tools to Ukraine," he said on Twitter.
The first sitting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council was also held on Wednesday, a new format designed to tighten cooperation between Kyiv and the 31-nation alliance.
NATO was set up in 1949 to defend allies against any attack from the Soviet Union. Russia's invasion in 2022 brought war back to Europe's doorstep, reviving Cold War-era animosities.
NATO says Ukraine would not be allowed in while at war with Russia, with Washington and Berlin warning against any moves that could put the alliance in a direct conflict with Moscow.
Backers of Ukraine's swift NATO accession in eastern Europe and elsewhere, on the other hand, have bristled at what they saw as a disappointing outcome of the first day of the summit.
Russia, which says NATO's eastward expansion is an existential threat to its own security, swiftly lashed out.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "potentially very dangerous" for the West to give Ukraine security guarantees.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said increasing military assistance to Ukraine by NATO was bringing closer a World War Three.
Source: Reuters