NATO countries consider providing Ukraine with security guarantees based on "Israeli model", - WSJ
The Alliance preliminarily supports the idea of providing Ukraine with security guarantees on the basis of the Kyiv Security Compact, which will be in force until Ukraine joins NATO.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, Censor.NET reports with reference to the European Press Agency.
This concept is based on the Kyiv Fusillade Free Treaty, developed in September 2022 by a working group headed by the Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Rasmussen described the document as follows: "The best security assurance that Ukraine can get is to have a strong, powerful armed forces to withstand any Russian attack, and that is the basis of this document. The guarantor countries are committed to providing all the weapons, all the equipment that Ukraine needs, all the training it needs, to conduct joint manoeuvres or to help Ukraine build a powerful defence system." However, the treaty does not provide for the deployment of allied troops on the territory of Ukraine.
In an interview with the WSJ, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Ukraine's Western allies support an "Israeli-style" security agreement, and "discussions on this are ongoing right now," including during US President Joe Biden's visit to Warsaw in February.
According to Western officials spoken to by the WSJ, such a deal could thwart Vladimir Putin's intentions to delay it in the hope of undermining political support for Ukraine in the United States and parts of Europe.
The American official confirmed to the publication on condition of anonymity that discussions on the "Israeli model" of security for Ukraine are underway, but there are no specifics yet.
But senior officials in several European capitals, including Paris and Berlin, said they generally agreed with the plan, which includes "a series of bilateral safeguards within a multilateral agreement."
In addition, representatives of NATO, Ukraine and other countries told the publication that they expect the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France to be among the parties to the agreement on security guarantees for Kyiv.
Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine would not be able to join NATO "in the foreseeable future". At the same time, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Ukraine expects a "real signal" from the NATO summit in Vilnius in summer about further future partnership, and called Ukraine's accession to the Alliance a matter of political will.
