Antonina Dolomanzhi08:56, 08/04/234 min.317

Twelve countries have already joined the recently adopted security guarantees for Ukraine from the G7.

On Thursday, August 3, Ukraine and the United States of America officially launched the first round of negotiations on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine.

As Deputy Head of the Office of the President Igor Zhovkva said in an interview with UNIAN, now 12 countries have already joined the security guarantees for Ukraine, which were accepted by the G7 countries, in addition to the aforementioned seven. 

Therefore, in general, we are talking about 19 countries.

“Literally right away, we saw a joint statement by the Nordic countries, partners from the Netherlands, Belgium. And today there is reason to say that the number of such countries will be even greater: now about five more countries are considering the possibility of joining the declaration,” he said.

Zhovkva specified that the next stage should be the start of negotiations with those countries that have already joined the declaration on the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral agreements to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. 

According to him, these agreements should already be legally binding, they will go through the appropriate procedures in these countries and will contain a specific range of guarantees.

“Literally today (August 3), we are starting the first round of such negotiations with the United States of America.

And a number of countries that have already signed the declaration also declare their readiness to start relevant negotiations. But it was very important to start them with the United States,” – said the representative of the OP.He also added that a meeting at the level of advisers on the Ukrainian formula for peace should be held in Saudi Arabia soon, which will be the second such event. 

The first such meeting took place in Copenhagen on 24 June, and fifteen countries took part. “This time … there will be many more countries. I can’t tell you the exact number, because confirmations are coming at this very moment when we communicate with you …

However, I can say for sure that there will be more than thirty of them,” Zhovkva said .

According to him, the countries that were at previous such negotiations, including India, should take part in the meeting.”As for China, China has received an invitation to take part in this meeting. We are working to ensure that the Chinese side is represented at the Jeddah summit,” he added.

The Deputy Head of the OP explained that at this meeting, Ukraine wants to approve the wording of the ten points of the peace formula, which will be acceptable to each participating country, and discuss the place and time of the summit of the peace formula at the level of leaders. 

“We have several options, several dates, and we will talk about this with diplomatic advisers, with national security advisers. We hope that such an inaugural summit will take place in the near future. We want it to take place in the fall,” he said.

According to Zhovkva, Ukraine does not structurally plan to change the peace formula or any of its points.

“For peace in Ukraine and for the end of the war in Ukraine, no other formula can be used, except for the Ukrainian one … but all rational proposals that do not contradict the national interests of Ukraine, of course, are accepted by Ukraine,” the representative of the Office emphasized.

Security guarantees for Ukraine

As UNIAN reported earlier, as a result of the NATO summit in Vilnius, which took place in July, the G7 countries adopted security guarantees for Ukraine , which will be valid until it joins NATO.

In particular, the partner countries pledged to supply Ukraine with weapons and provide financial assistance. 

The declaration adopted by the G7 can be joined by any countries with which bilateral agreements will subsequently be signed with certain clauses regarding the assistance they can provide.

(C)UNIAN 2023