The leaders of 22 countries - the United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - as well as Ukraine and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, committed, on Thursday 11 July, in the margins of the NATO summit (see other news), to the ‘Ukraine Compact’ with a view to “coordinating and accelerating our collective efforts to meet Ukraine’s comprehensive security needs”.
The Compact comes a year after G7 members announced their intention to formalise security agreements and arrangements with Ukraine. All the members of the Compact have signed a security agreement or similar commitment with Ukraine. The Czech Republic and Slovenia have also endorsed the text, but do not yet have security agreements with Ukraine.
“This document is a success for Ukraine, because it develops our security architecture. We will certainly meet every objective - we have enough energy to do so”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised in front of the media in Washington. He pointed out that his country had signed 23 security commitments to date with the 22 countries mentioned above, and the EU.
“Through this Compact, we declare our enduring intent and commitment to ensure Ukraine can successfully defend its freedom, independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity today and deter acts of aggression in the future”, say the signatories of the Compact.
This covers the short, medium and long term, explained US President Joe Biden at a brief ceremony, during which he called the Ukrainian President ‘Putin’ before re-tracking.
The participants of the Compact undertake to support Ukraine’s “immediate defence and security needs”, including “through the continued provision of security assistance and training, modern military equipment, and defence industrial and necessary economic support”. This will be done bilaterally, but also through existing multilateral mechanisms, such as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) and its Capability Coalitions, ‘NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine’ (NSATU), and the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine).
The parties to the Compact also promise to accelerate efforts to build a future Ukrainian force that maintains a credible defence and deterrence capability. They will meet within six months at defence minister level through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group “to review and approve roadmaps prepared by the leaders of the Capability Coalitions — each a Compact Signatory — on future force development through 2027, in coordination with and EUMAM Ukraine, with a view to continue strengthening the force into the 2030s”.
Finally, the signatories specify that in the event of a new Russian armed attack against Ukraine “following the conclusion of current hostilities”, they will convene “swiftly” - without further details - and “collectively at the most senior levels” to determine appropriate next steps in supporting Ukraine, “including the provision of swift and sustained security assistance and the imposition of economic and other costs on Russia”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)