Ukraine’s long-term security requires a “multi-decade” investment in its armed forces, and binding pledges from Nato countries to provide military support in the event of an attack, according to a report co-authored by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
The report, written by Andriy Yermak and former Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is the first detailed explanation of what Kyiv expects from its western supporters to guarantee its sovereignty after the conclusion of Russia’s war against the country.
Nato members including the US, UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Turkey and other European states should act as “enablers of Ukraine’s self-defence”, the report said.
This would require them “to use all elements of their national and collective power and take appropriate measures — which may include diplomatic, economic, and military means — to enable Ukraine to stop the aggression, restore its sovereignty, ensure its security, military edge, and capability to deter its enemies and defend itself by itself against any threat,” the report said.
The broad concept of security guarantees from Nato states — which under their Article 5 mutual defence clause could lead to a full-scale war between the alliance and an aggressor such as Russia — were raised as an element of initial peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow in March, but have not been formally sketched out or offered.
The security guarantees would require action within 24 hours and be triggered by a request from Ukraine, rather than relying on confirmation from a third-party such as the UN, the report said.