US and Ukraine sign historic 10-year security deal
US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announce the security deal on the sidelines of the G7 summit. Photo: Getty
Presidents Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky have signed a historic 10-year bilateral security agreement to bolster Ukraine’s defences and help counter Russia’s growing “global threat”.
The United States and Ukraine leaders announced the deal in a joint press conference on Friday morning (AEDT) on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.
It comes as G7 nations agreed to issue $US50 billion ($75 billion) of loans to support Ukraine’s war effort, funded by interest from frozen Russian assets.
Zelensky said the agreement with the US was the strongest between the two countries since Ukraine declared independence from Russia in 1991.
The long-term pact would expand intelligence sharing, train Ukrainian troops and invest in Ukraine’s industrial base, the BBC reports.
Zelensky said the deal would “protect human life”, make Ukraine stronger and help bring sustainable peace.
He warned that Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, was a “real, real global threat”.
President Joe Biden told media: “We’re not backing down.”
“In fact we’re standing together against this illegal aggression.”
The agreement is meant to be a step towards Ukraine’s eventual NATO membership, according to the text of the deal.
“The parties recognise this agreement as supporting a bridge to Ukraine’s eventual membership in the NATO alliance,” the text says.
Zelensky has long sought NATO membership but the allies have stopped short of taking that step.
The Western alliance regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article Five clause.
A dog accompanies Ukrainian soldiers of the 43rd Infantry Brigade during military training near the Russian border. Photo: Getty
Under the agreement, the United States restates its support for Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, amid a renewed push by Russia on Ukraine’s eastern front.
In the event of an armed attack or threat of such against Ukraine, top US and Ukrainian officials will meet within 24 hours to consult on a response and determine what additional defence needs are required for Ukraine, the agreement says.
“To ensure Ukraine’s security, both sides recognise Ukraine needs a significant military force, robust capabilities, and sustained investments in its defence industrial base that are consistent with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) standards,” the text says.
“The United States intends to provide long-term material, training and advising, sustainment, intelligence, security, defence industrial, institutional, and other support to develop Ukrainian security and defence forces that are capable of defending a sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine and deterring future aggression,” it says.
An elderly Ukrainian woman is evacuated to a safer location. Photo: Getty
Russia’s starvation tactic
As the war grinds on, Russian forces have been accused of deliberately starving civilians as a military tactic during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Human rights organisation Global Rights Compliance said Russian forces “systematically attacked objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population” such as food, water, energy and access to health care.
At the same time the troops cut off evacuation routes and blocked humanitarian aid from coming in, it said in a report published on Thursday.
The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment on a national holiday.
Moscow has always denied its troops target civilians in Ukraine.
Mariupol became a byword for horror during an almost three-month-long Russian siege for control of the strategic port city between March and May 2022, with trapped civilians forced to bury their dead by the roadside.
Starvation of civilians “by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival” as a military tactic is defined as a war crime under the International Criminal Court’s founding Rome Statute.
In that definition, starvation is not just about food, Olha Matskiv, a Ukrainian legal advisor with Global Rights Compliance told Reuters.
“It is (about) everything that a person needs to survive,” she said, adding that heating, water and the availability of health care can also be objects indispensable to survival.
For their report, Global Rights Compliance legal experts worked with defence intelligence specialist and open source investigators to analyse satellite images and images and reports from eyewitnesses and officials during the siege of Mariupol.
According to Matskiv, the report showed that in addition to victims from the intense fighting, many more people in Mariupol died because of a lack of food, water or heating after Russian troops attacked food distribution points, energy infrastructure, water supply installations and medical facilities.
“We came across some horrific cases where elderly people died in their own apartments from lack of water or because they were cold, because (there was) no heating inside Mariupol,” she said.
Yuriy Belousov, head of the war crimes unit in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, said in a statement the incidents in the Mariupol report were part of the national prosecution’s current case files.
The ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if committed on the territory of Ukraine.
The court has so far issued four arrest warrants related to Ukraine including against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the deportation of Ukrainian children.
-with AAP