EU Pledges Continued Support for Ukraine with New Security Agreement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 27 signed security agreements with the European Union, Estonia, and Lithuania at the start of a two-day EU summit in Brussels.

The security deal with the European Union reinforces the bloc’s support for Kyiv in nine areas of security and defense policy.

A draft of the agreement obtained by RFE/RL reiterates the “resolute condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine” and reaffirms the EU’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Kyiv's right to self-defense against the Russian aggression, and its pursuit of a just peace.

The draft says that the EU supports Ukraine’s reforms and EU accession path, noting that overall EU assistance to Ukraine amounts to almost 100 billion euros ($107 billion), including 35 billion euros in military support.

“The European Union is determined to continue providing Ukraine and its people all the necessary political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military, and diplomatic support for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed,” the document says.

The draft stresses that "Russia must not prevail" in its full-scale war launched in February 2022 and says Ukraine must get back territory annexed by Moscow. It also lists commitments to providing military equipment, military training, and cooperation between the European and the Ukrainian defense industries.

The agreements Zelenskiy signed with Lithuania and Estonia while at the EU summit are intended to complement other similar agreements sealed between Ukraine and its allies. They are not mutual defense pacts but do amount to pledges to provide Ukraine with weapons and other aid and deter any future invasion.

The signing ceremony opened a meeting of the European Council attended by the leaders of the 27 EU countries who are in Brussels for their first formal meeting since European elections on June 6-9.

Apart from the defense matters, the summit is poised to approve Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Costa, and Kaja Kallas in leadership roles. Von der Leyen is expected to be confirmed for another five-year term as president of the European Commission; Costa is expected to become president of the European Council; and Kallas, who is currently Estonia’s prime minister, is expected to become the EU’s foreign policy chief.

By RFE/RL

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