Tomorrow, June 13, the United States and Ukraine may sign a bilateral agreement on security commitments on the sidelines of the G7 summit, CNN reports.
The promise from the United States will be an "executive agreement". This allegedly makes it less formal than a treaty and not necessarily binding on future US presidents.
In particular, the agreement does not contain specific financial commitments from Washington to support Ukraine. However, an appendix to the agreement will outline how the administration of current White House President Joe Biden will work with Congress to fulfill security commitments, including the long-term funding that will be needed to support Ukraine's defense.
It is expected that the agreement to be signed by Washington and Kyiv will be similar to 14 other agreements that Ukraine has already concluded.
In general, the document will oblige the United States for 10 years to:
- continue training the Ukrainian military;
- expand cooperation in the production of weapons and military equipment;
- continue to provide military assistance;
- to share more intelligence.
In the event of another Russian attack, the United States promises to consult with Ukraine to determine the next steps. Agreements with Britain, France, and Germany have similar provisions.
"But the bilateral agreement with the US, like with Ukraine’s other allies, will not include a mutual defense clause, which would commit them to defending Ukraine militarily in the event of another attack," CNN adds.
Security commitments
The United Kingdom was the first country to sign security guarantees with Ukraine. This happened on January 12 during the visit of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Kyiv. Later, Ukraine also signed agreements with:
- Canada;
- Germany
- France;
- Denmark
- Italy;
- Finland;
- Netherlands;
- Latvia.
The Financial Times also reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his American counterpart Joe Biden may sign a security commitments agreement at the summit in Italy.