Ukraine Begins Security Guarantee Talks With United States This Week

JAKARTA - Ukraine will start consultations with the United States this week to provide security guarantees for Kyiv while waiting for the process of joining NATO to be completed, said Presidential Chief of Staff Volodymyr Zelensky, Andriy Yermak.

The discussion on security guarantees with the United States is a follow-up to the promise issued by the Group of 7 (G7) at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania earlier this month, to compile and respect security guarantees.

"We started talks with the United States (this week)," Yermak wrote on Telegram, citing Reuters, July 31.

"Security guarantees for Ukraine will be concrete long-term obligations and ensure Ukraine's capacity to defeat and contain future Russian aggression. These will be in the form of clearly designed support formats and mechanisms," Yermak explained.

He said the guarantees "will be valid until Ukraine gains NATO membership."

In his Telegram post, Yermak also said officials from a number of countries were preparing to meet in Saudi Arabia, to discuss President Zelensky's peace plan for Ukraine, with the withdrawal of all Russian troops.

Yermak did not say when the next meeting would be held, but he said the plan would be discussed in three stages, leading to a meeting of heads of state and government.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, saying it would be held in Jeddah on August 5-6.

The Vilnius Summit of the Western Alliance offers support to Ukraine against the 17-month-old Russian invasion. Each country promised new weapons, but no date was set for Ukraine's membership while the war was ongoing.

In addition, the G7 members agreed that each country negotiated an agreement to provide security guarantees and help Ukraine strengthen its military.

In his comments, Yermak said more than 10 other countries had joined the G7 declaration and Ukraine was negotiating terms of future guarantees with each of them.

Yermak spoke about the upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia at a meeting of regional officials in the city of Ivano Frankivsk, western Ukraine.

According to him, the initial international meeting devoted to the peace plan took place in Copenhagen in June.

It is understood that apart from calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops, President Zelensky's peace plan also provided for the restoration of Ukraine's pre-war borders and the return of all deported prisoners and children.

Russia and Ukraine themselves held a series of peace talks in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion in February 2022 but failed to produce any agreement.

Ukraine, whose military is now backed by Western weaponry, has now said it will not take part in further talks until the Russian troops leave.