Ukraine to rely on security guarantees from individual G7 allies until it joins NATO

He didn’t get everything he wanted, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was set to leave the NATO summit in Lithuania on Wednesday with fresh guarantees of allied support and weapons to continue the war with Russia.

His government had asked to be admitted to NATO on an expedited basis, much as Finland and Sweden had recently been. 

No invitation was presented at the two-day gathering, but NATO delivered the assurance that it was committed to letting Ukraine join — when conditions allowed, meaning at the conclusion of the war. It did remove one condition of membership, a set of political, economic and military goals that members must meet before entry, but importantly, the alliance did not set a timeline for accepting the East European country.

Going into the summit, Zelenskyy, who’d apparently seen a draft of what was on offer, complained bitterly about the plan.

He dialed back the criticism, however, on Wednesday, when he appeared to answer questions alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltnberg. 

“We can state that the results of the summit are good, but if there was an invitation, that would be ideal,” Zelenskyy said.

Instead of membership, for the moment, Ukraine will have to rely on a framework of security guarantees from individual G7 allies until it is allowed to join the 31 — soon to be 32 — member Western military alliance. 

A declaration by the world’s richest, most-industrialized democracies sets out how allies will support Ukraine over the coming years to end the war and deter and respond to any future possible attack.

Ahead of the decision, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the security assurances are not a substitute for NATO membership.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Zelenskyy ahead of the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, an organization that will help co-ordinate support to Zelenskyy’s government.

There’s no indication, at the moment, what kind of security guarantees package Canada intends to negotiate with Ukraine.

“Canada will continue to support Ukraine in any way it can, including, and on a priority basis, with supplying Ukraine with military aid,” said Defence Minister Anita Anand, ahead of the release of the G7 declaration. “That’s what we’ve been doing, as you know, and that’s what we will continue to do.”

She wouldn’t say if Canada was disappointed by the absence of timelines for Ukraine’s G7 membership.

“Our stalwart support for Ukraine means at this moment … we are going to continue to support them on the battlefield. We are going to continue to support them with humanitarian aid and economic aid,” she said.

In response to the G7 initiative, the Kremlin said Wednesday that security guarantees would bring NATO step closer to a direct confrontation with Russia.