President’s Office specifies EU countries that have not yet joined declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine

Brussels: Six European Union countries have not yet joined the declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine adopted by the leaders of the Group of Seven at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, and Kyiv is working to engage them.

Source: Andrii Sybiha, Deputy Head of the Office of the President, in a national joint 24/7 newscast, quoted by Ukrinform news agency; European Pravda

Details: As Sybiha said, out of the 27 EU member states, only six have not yet joined the G7 joint declaration: Austria, Croatia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. However, Ukraine is now actively working with them.

Among other things, during the visit of Radoslaw Sikorski, the newly appointed Polish Foreign Minister, the issue of Warsaw joining the “security guarantees” was raised in Ukraine.

“It will be the subject of our further consultations,” Sybiha said, adding that during meetings with Sikorski, the Ukrainian side informed him of its expectations and heard the Polish side’s replies.

In general, as the deputy head of the Office of the President informed, 31 states have already joined the Group of Seven declaration, 10 of which joined on the first day and another 20 within the first month after the declaration was signed.

“Bilateral negotiations have now begun with all of these states, and some of them have already held two rounds of negotiations and even drafted specific documents. Another 15 states have expressed their intention to start consultations with Ukraine on the conclusion of these bilateral agreements,” Sybiha added.

At the NATO summit in Vilnius, the countries of the Group of Seven agreed on a framework document on security guarantees for Ukraine. Specific bilateral agreements with states that agree to provide security commitments will be signed later.

Earlier, Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, revealed that he kept receiving signals from the EU that there were no problems in the negotiations on the bilateral agreement about the security guarantees between the EU and Ukraine as a continuation of the G7 declaration.