Soon on the heels of President Biden last week signing into law a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine's defense, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday indicated that he's working with Washington on a bilateral security agreement which would last ten years.
"Our goal is to make this agreement the strongest of all." Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP "We are discussing the specific foundations of our security and cooperation. We are also working on fixing specific levels of support for this year and the next 10 years." He indicated it will likely include agreements on long-term support centering on military hardware and joint arms production, as well as continuing reconstruction aid.
Below is what The Wall Street Journal spelled out last year: The goal is to make sure Ukraine will be strong enough in the future to deter Russia from attacking it again.
More immediately, Ukraine's Western allies hope to discourage the Kremlin from thinking it can wait out the Biden administration for a potentially more sympathetic successor in the White House.
We and others have previously underscored that NATO and G7 countries are desperately trying to "Trump-proof" future aid to Ukraine and the effort to counter Russia.
"We are still waiting for the supplies promised to Ukraine - we expect exactly the volume and content of supplies that can change the situation on the battlefield in the interests of Ukraine," Zelensky had said over the weekend.
The rationale is that they don't need them as urgently as Ukraine does.
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