“More equipment and other necessary supplies will also be provided to the front line,” Zelensky said in the letter. Thursday Evening SpeechUnlike his recent speeches, which have focused on the difficult situation on the front lines, this one read like a series of successful agreements with Kiev’s allies.
Ukraine also signed Security Treaty with Japan And it secured more than $15 billion in pledged aid from Western partners at an international conference in Berlin this week to help the country rebuild.
The various promises came too late to help Ukraine avoid a defeat in the northeast or the destruction of its power plants by Russian missiles. Ukrainian officials and experts say that while the new deal will ensure Ukraine military support in the medium term, it falls far short of the level of support it needs to win the war.
“Ukraine is cautiously optimistic about this,” said Serhii Kuzan, president of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, an independent research organization.
“We sincerely appreciate any help, and if we receive all the necessary weapons and ammunition in time, it will give us a chance to stabilize the front line,” Mr. Kuzan said. “But this is not enough to talk about liberating the occupied territories and achieving victory.”
Still, Ukrainian officials are enthusiastic about the security agreement with the United States. It is one of 17 similar agreements signed with Western allies in recent months, each of which aims to provide Ukraine with enough security assistance to deter further Russian aggression, including providing key weapons, training troops and sharing intelligence.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney research institute, said the deal signed by President Zelensky and President Biden on Thursday “is the most important of them all, given the nature of U.S. resources and its central role in NATO.” Preliminary assessment Security Protocol.
Andrei Yermak, Chief of Staff of Zelensky In a statement The agreement is “the strongest of all agreements” between Ukraine and the United States as it commits Washington to “provide Ukraine with a stable level of assistance each year for the next 10 years, covering key areas of assistance, including defense.”
Although the agreement does not include specific guarantees of U.S. funding, Yermak said its commitment distinguishes it from the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which many Ukrainians believe failed to protect their country.
Under the memorandum, Ukraine agreed to return old Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on its territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and Britain. But the agreement did not spell out what the security guarantees would be, nor did it commit to military assistance in the event of an attack. Ukrainian officials say that leaves Russia free to attack Ukraine, as it has done since 2014.
It’s unclear whether the new security deal will fundamentally change the status quo. It only commits to working with Congress to secure additional military aid, a task that could be difficult after Republican opposition delayed passage of billions of dollars in weapons programs for months earlier this year.
And the new deal can be terminated by either side, meaning former President Donald J. Trump, who has repeatedly expressed opposition to continued support for Ukraine, could abandon it if he defeats Biden in November and wins office again next year.
In the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, residents expressed skepticism about the agreements signed between Ukraine and its Western allies.
“It’s unclear what exactly the safety protocols will give us, when they will take effect, or if this is just a communication effort,” said resident Ihor Kalashnyk. “In general, what do they mean? What do they provide? No one understands.”
Biden said the deal put Ukraine on a path to join NATO, but he has opposed allowing Ukraine to join the alliance during a war, fearing that doing so could one day force U.S. troops into direct combat with Russian forces.
Ukraine’s most pressing issue remains securing additional weapons supplies. Zelensky said Thursday that a recently approved multibillion-dollar U.S. military aid package would allow Ukraine to equip more reserve forces to replace exhausted troops on the front lines.
Soldiers and commanders said in recent interviews that packages of new ammunition have already been delivered to Ukrainian troops. Help stabilize their defensesFor months, Moscow has benefited from its advantage in artillery numbers, sometimes reaching a ratio of 1 Ukrainian shell for every 10 Russian shells fired.
As the war enters its third year, Russia has become increasingly dependent on arms supplies from allies such as Iran and North Korea to supply its own forces. Tell Bloomberg On Friday, North Korea delivered containers containing up to 4.8 million artillery shells to Russia.
