Ahead of the G7 summit, the US and Ukraine will ink a bilateral security pact, on the sidelines of an annual summit in Italy on Thursday.
As per CNN, this pact will establish a path for washington’s long-term security agreement with Kyiv.
This agreement is the product of months of negotiation between US and Ukraine. Under this pact, it is likely that US is expected to provide training to Ukraine’s armed forces for 10 years, increased collaboration in manufacturing weapons and military equipment and continued provision for military aid, and greater intelligence sharing.
But this pact is most likely to be an ‘executive agreement’, meaning this treaty will be less formal in nature and it will not be binding on future US presidents. Hence, future US administrations can potentially reverse the deal.
Meanwhile, the ex-us President and republican candidate Donald Trump has not specified, whether US under his administration will continue to Ukraine, even though he has announced, he will swiftly negotiate a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In addition, he also forced European countries to enhance their own defense and if not, he’ll encourage ‘Russia’ to do whatever the hell they want.’
But this agreement also doesn’t promise monetary funding for Ukraine’s defence. Moreover, the annexe in the agreement will detail Biden administration’s approach on collaborating with Congress on the execution of security commitments.
Yesterday on Tuesday, National security council spokesperson John Kirby announced, that US will continue to support Ukraine and the country will take bold measures to show Putin, that he cannot outlast them, as US is fighting for Ukraine’s freedom.
Further, Kirby also announced, that President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will interact during the summit and Washington will announce measures to release Russia’s blocked funds to Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The anticipated pact between the US and Ukraine is similar to the fourteen existing bilateral agreements, which Ukraine has forged with allies like the UK, France, and Germany.
According to a source, this upcoming US-Ukraine deal will mark the fifteenth agreement of its kind, with seventeen additional nations committed to pursuing comparable security arrangements with the latter.
And just like other signed agreements, this deal doesn’t include mutual defence clause, which would entail their obligation to provide military defense to Ukraine in case of another attack.
But as per sources familiar with the deal, US will continue to offer consultations to Ukraine, if Russia in future attacks the country, to consider subsequent actions.
This bilateral pact comes around the time, when relations between USA and Ukraine are beginning to mend, which faltered due to congressional fight over additional funds being provided to Ukraine. Later, president Biden had to apologize to President Zelenskyy during their meeting in Paris last week.