G7 offers Ukraine wide-ranging security package at NATO summit

The Group of Seven (G7) countries have offered Ukraine a long-term and wide-ranging security package at the NATO summit as Kiev strives toward membership in the US-led Western military alliance.

Leaders of the world's most industrialized countries revealed a strategy on Wednesday, focusing on Ukraine's long-term security. The plan aims to bolster Ukraine’s military capabilities, transforming it into a robust military fortress to deter future cross-border military actions by Russia, Western media reported.

The package, which has a direct message to the Kremlin, was offered to Kiev on the second day of the two-day NATO summit in Lithuania as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting with NATO leaders at a summit of the 31-member Western military bloc.

NATO leaders on the first day of the summit declared that Ukraine's future lay inside the US-led alliance but rebuffed Zelensky's desperate call for setting a timeline for membership.

NATO's Article 5 stipulates that an attack on one member is an attack on all, which means that if Ukraine is added to the bloc while it is still at war, all NATO members must enter a full-fledge and direct war with Russia, and this is not the bloc's intention right now.

NATO has so far pointedly refrained from giving military assistance to Ukraine as an organization. Nevertheless, Ukraine has so far managed to reap rewards in the form of current and long-term security commitments it has lobbied for.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States have been in talks with Ukraine for the past several weeks over a multilateral text to establish a wide-ranging international framework.

The global package encompasses various elements, including advanced military equipment, such as fighter jets, as well as training, intelligence-sharing and cyber-defense.

ME