Pais newspaper: NATO considers forming a deterrent shell around Ukraine
NATO is considering giving Kiev security guarantees that include commitments of support as well as consolidation and reinforcement of military assistance to form a “deterrent” envelope around Ukraine, Pais newspaper reported, citing sources.
“Countries prefer to provide more limited ‘guarantee’ or ‘security measures’ … these concepts imply a political commitment to support… and also mean consolidation and increased military assistance to form a deterrent envelope around Ukraine,” the paper said, citing alliance sources.
According to the newspaper, US foreign policy and military affairs expert Jan Brzezinski and former NATO Deputy Secretary General and former US ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow have proposed creating a new “deterrence and defense partnership” between NATO and Ukraine. According to the paper, the allies would commit to arm, train and equip Ukrainian forces, as well as serve as “security guarantees” after the end of the Ukrainian conflict until NATO is ready to accept Ukraine as a full member of the alliance.
According to the publication, Brzezinski and Vershbow’s proposals are now “gaining momentum” during discussions in the alliance.
Earlier, Politico reported that NATO members disagreed on what should be promised to Ukraine during the July summit in Vilnius. According to the publication, the Eastern European countries are in favour of letting Kiev know that it is moving towards joining the alliance. Their Western European counterparts, for their part, believe that serious discussions on membership should wait until the conflict in Ukraine is over.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that a new body, the Ukraine-NATO council, was planned to be set up at the NATO summit in Vilnius. It is expected that it will be a pass to future membership of the alliance for Kiev. Ukraine will have the right to convene the council and request assistance to be provided by individual member states.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenski said that Ukraine would not become a NATO member until the conflict is over, but he would like the support of partners in the form of an invitation to the alliance today. Zelenskyy said at the end of September 2022 that Ukraine was applying for NATO membership in an expedited procedure. Such a procedure is now untimely, US Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan said later. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Zelenskyy’s statement, acknowledged the bloc’s unchanged position on the right of each country to determine its path and on the “open door” policy, but stressed that the alliance would concentrate its efforts on helping Kiev to defend itself. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine will not be satisfied with any decision of the NATO summit in Vilnius scheduled for 11-12 July other than an invitation to join the alliance.
The West, including NATO countries, keep pumping weapons into Kiev. Russia sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that any cargo containing arms for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin said that pumping weapons into Ukraine from the West did not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian talks and would have a negative effect. Lavrov also said that the US and NATO were directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, “including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel… on the territory of the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries”.
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