There is “no risk-free option,” according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, when it comes to providing Ukraine with long-term security guarantees.
His remarks followed a warning from the Kremlin that any such action would be “badly mistaken and potentially very dangerous.”
Despite Mr. Stoltenberg’s claim that Ukraine “is now closer to NATO than ever before,” the alliance once more refrained from issuing a formal invitation.
Instead, a group of G7 countries and other allies have promised to provide Kyiv with a security package to help ‘end the war’ and deter future aggression.
Asked if the move brings the West closer to direct war with Russia, Mr Stoltenberg told reporters at the NATO summit in Vilnius ‘there is already a fully-fledged war going on in Europe’.
Standing beside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he went on: ‘There is no risk-free option, no risk-free option for NATO allies either. But the biggest risk is if President Putin wins.
‘Because then the message is that when he uses military force, when he violates international law, when he invades a neighbour, then he gets what he wants.
‘That’s exactly why it is so important for NATO allies to support Ukraine. It will be a tragedy for Ukraine if President Putin wins, but it will be dangerous for us. It will make us more vulnerable.’
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the proposed security assurances were a mistake which Moscow would be forced to factor into its future decision-making.
‘We consider this move to be badly mistaken and potentially very dangerous,’ he told reporters.
‘Because by providing any kind of security guarantees for Ukraine, these countries would be ignoring the international principle on the indivisibility of security. By providing guarantees to Ukraine, they would be impinging on the security of the Russian Federation.’
Providing such assurances ‘is fraught with highly negative consequences in the medium, long and even short term’, Mr Peskov went on, adding: ‘By taking such a decision, these countries will make Europe much more dangerous for many, many years to come.’
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and deputy chair of the powerful security council, went a step further and warned: ‘World War Three is coming.’
Mr Stoltenberg said Ukraine ‘has the right to choose its own path and what kind of security arrangements it wants to be a part of’.
He said: ‘Russia has been against every enlargement of NATO. It’s for NATO allies and for Ukraine to decide when to become a member. Moscow doesn’t have a veto on that.’
The secretary general added: ‘The most urgent task is to of course ensure that Ukraine prevails, because unless Ukraine prevails then there is no membership issue to be discussed at all.
‘So, the message is that we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes, and the urgent need is to provide the weapons they need.’
President Zelensky said the results of the summit have been good, but added an offer of membership would have been ‘ideal’.
Rishi Sunak said the G7 security agreement marked the ‘new high point in support’ for Ukraine but was not a ‘substitute’ for NATO membership.
In a readout of the meeting between the Prime Minister and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: ‘The Prime Minister welcomed the fact that the MAP (membership action plan) requirement for Ukraine had now been removed, smoothing the path to full Nato membership in the future.
‘The Prime Minister and the president agreed on the importance of the security arrangements to be announced by the G7 this afternoon.
‘They marked a new high point in support from the international community and would give Ukraine an even greater level of endurance against Russian aggression, the Prime Minister said.
‘Both agreed the arrangements will not be a substitute for NATO membership and looked forward to building on the new security framework as soon as possible.’
