What Germany and France promised Ukraine in their security guarantees

President Zelenskyy visited Germany and France to sign security cooperation agreements last week. Ukraine has secured such agreements with three G7 member countries along with the UK. Several more documents are also on underway.

All three documents, however, are different. Read more in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, European Pravda's editor - What 'guarantees' did Kyiv receive from Germany and France and why are security agreements to be amended. Here is a brief summary. Back in July of 2023, all G7 states and some other states that joined them (primarily NATO members) pledged to develop and sign security agreements with Ukraine at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

The goal was to provide minimal security commitments from Western states to Ukraine until it joins the Alliance. The United Kingdom was the first to sign a security agreement with Ukraine, which became a breakthrough. And it is not only about its truly excellent content, but also about the fact of its signing with the UK, a nuclear state, a G7 member, and a permanent UN Security Council member.

As for the German agreement, its wording is weaker than the French and the UK ones. But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz managed to find a compensator here, which allowed turning a blind eye to its cautiousness. Berlin pledged to provide military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 7.1 billion euros in 2024!

This is a lot, nearly 2.5 times more than the French commitment. And billions in the form of shells and missiles don't come in bunches Scholz signed an agreement that mentions security arrangements with Ukraine.

And it is not only about the formula! Even more important is that Berlin lacked the courage to mention Ukraine's future EU and NATO memberships. But the German agreement cannot be called "unsuccessful." Berlin detailed in the agreement that it would make efforts and resources available for demining and also made nuclear security one of its priorities.

Moreover, the German agreement has turned out to be more ambitious in commitments to support Ukraine in establishing the so-called "tribunal for Putin." The agreement with France practically repeats the ambitious British formulations verbatim, including legal commitments regarding the security support of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron, like Rishi Sunak, declared a political commitment to long-term allocating funds for military support to Ukraine in amounts comparable to the British.

The Office of the President of Ukraine, which oversees the negotiations on security agreements, predicts these agreements to continue to differ from partner to partner. As for the United States, there is no progress. According to several EuroPravda several sources, Americans have put the process on hold at least until Congress approves a large aid package to Ukraine not to harm this process.

And Ukraine cannot influence this. But there is also an issue that Kyiv could potentially solve, but has not succeeded so far - ratification. It should be emphasised: the absence of ratification does not make the agreement less valid.

It is still a binding document.

But its political importance is a bit undermined.

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