Michel: EU put in place de-facto security guarantees for Ukraine

President of the Eurean Council Charles Michel said this at a briefing in Kyiv, answering a question from an Ukrinform correspondent.

“Maybe I will surprise you. We were putting in place de-facto security guarantees for Ukraine when we have decided immediately from the first days of the invasion to mobilize all our possible tos to support Ukraine, including by providing lethal military equipment to Ukraine a few hours flowing the start of the war. This is a very strong commitment and it was not because there was a treaty between Ukraine and the EU, it was because it was what we needed to do in those circumstances,” Michel said.

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The Eurean Council president added that the work is underway to clarify and stabilize for the future security guarantees for Ukraine.

“And that's why the Eurean Council has tasked High Representative Borrell to start formal consultations with Ukraine and with our member states. There will be a first report on the tic in December. Maybe not the decisive moment, but just to show that this is something that we are assessing, and working on,” Michel said.

The Eurean Council president also gave two other examples.

“First, the industrial and defense sector. In Eure, we are working very hard to make this industrial basis more sid, more robust, and there’s a lot to do on this question. We are working on the ammunition, for instance, trying to speed up production and make more efforts to deliver more ammunition," Michel said.

He also named the training of military personnel as second example.

“We have already trained 30,000 Ukrainian sdiers, and we will do more until the end of the year – some 40,000 in total. These are also security guarantees for the future. And this debate should be seen and addressed in parallel with the need to devel the Eurean defense capabilities,” he said.

As reported, in early December, a delegation of the Eurean Union will arrive in Ukraine to present prosals for security guarantees for Ukraine, develed on behalf of the Eurean Council.

Earlier this month, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that he had been instructed by Eurean leaders to devel apprriate EU security commitments for Ukraine, which are being worked on together with member states.

Prosals for security guarantees will include a targeted military assistance package for Ukraine under the Eurean Peace Facility and will be presented to the Eurean Council by the end of the year, Borrell said.

In August 2023, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Picy Peter Stano said that the EU as an organization cannot provide Ukraine with security guarantees as such, as this is a matter for individual member states that have the apprriate resources, but the EU can "support" such guarantees.