Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed new security commitments from the G7 countries in Vilnius on Wednesday, but warned that these could not be a substitute for his country’s eventual membership in NATO.
He also said he was confident that Ukraine would eventually be in NATO, once the war with Russia was over.
Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian leader said the G7 promises should be seen “not instead of NATO, but as security guarantees on our way to integration”.
“We can state that the results of this summit are good, but should we receive an invitation [to join NATO], then that would be the optimum,” he said at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
“The best security guarantee for Ukraine is to be in NATO,” Zelensky told reporters adding that “thank God, we don’t see any NATO member going to war, suffering, their people dying, or having to defend their land”.
“On the way to NATO, we would like to have permanent guarantees to make our relations with the guarantor countries stronger, and we want a document to that effect,” he said.
“Sometimes it is very difficult to explain certain things to partners. We are at war and the partners really want to help us. But we live in very different conditions. We live in conditions where we need to survive and our partners want to help us live. But we need to survive in order to live,” the Ukrainian leader said when asked what he thought of the agreement by NATO leaders that Ukraine would be invited to join once the allies agree and Kyiv meets the conditions.
Later on Wednesday, the G7 group of major industrial powers is expected to announce a plan for long-term guarantees to help Ukraine defeat the Russian invasion and deter future aggression.
With Ukraine facing a likely lengthy wait to achieve its dream of NATO membership, thereby gaining the alliance’s automatic protection, the G7 countries will unveil an interim plan to guarantee ongoing assistance.
According to US officials, the plan is to “help Ukraine build a military that can defend itself and deter a future attack”.
Zelensky said that the current situation in Ukraine encouraged rapid reforms in the international security architecture.
“Unfortunately, this comes at a very high price, we see how to fight any aggression at the cost of our lives,” he said.
‘The positives’
Zelensky’s head of administration Andriy Yermak says Kyiv is focusing on “the positives” of the Vilnius summit decisions, despite some expectations remaining unfulfilled.
“I hope that this summit will not be the missed opportunity,” Yermak said at NATO Public Forum in Vilnius. “We have had a very positive bilateral meeting with some partners already, and we look to the positives of this summit.”
Yermak described Wednesday’s expected announcement by NATO’s major powers of their military support to Kyiv as “a very important moment for the security guarantees of Ukraine on its way to become a member of NATO”.
Ahead of his visit to Vilnius, Zelensky said in a tweet on Tuesday that “certain wording is being discussed (in Vilnius) without Ukraine”, which he said was a sign that NATO is not ready to invite Ukraine to join.
Yermak said that Ukraine felt “the unity of NATO and support” throughout the war.
The head of Zelensky’s office admitted, however, that Ukrainians expected “very concrete things” from the Vilnius summit.
"Of course, we hope that today’s results of this summit will be more inspiring and will give not just emotional, but very practical support for our soldiers to go forward,” he said.
New support packages
On Wednesday, Zelensky held meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
After the meetings, the Ukrainian president said he spoke about security guarantees for Ukraine on its way to NATO with the Canadian prime minister and they had agreed on further military assistance with armoured vehicles.
Moreover, he reported agreements reached with Germany on additional Patriot launchers and missiles.
After the meeting with Australian PM Albanese, the Ukrainian president reported about “a new powerful defence package, including 30 Bushmasters”.
Zelensky also met with Rutte and said afterwards that it had been agreed to start a training mission for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft in August this year.
The Ukrainian leader also said he had informed Macron about the current situation on the battlefield and talked to the French president about further defence support, including engineering equipment for demining.
“Long-term support programs are the best signal to everyone in the world that our Europe will remain a space of security and peace,” Zelensky said in a Telegram post.
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