Germany, France, UK mull stronger NATO-Ukraine ties to encourage Kyiv to pursue peace talks with Russia

The Wall Street Journal reported this with reference to representatives of the three governments, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is noted that last week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a plan for an agreement to provide Ukraine with much greater access to modern military equipment, weapons and ammunition to protect itself after the war.

Thus, a year after the start of the full-scale invasion, Paris and Berlin also support this initiative, and all three governments see it as a way to increase Ukraine's confidence and give the government an incentive to start negotiations with Russia.

Another goal of the proposed agreement is to influence Russia, a source told the British publication. If Russia sees that the West is ready to expand military assistance to Ukraine in the future, it will convince Moscow that it will not be able to achieve its military goals.

Officials were careful to tell reporters that any decision on when and under what conditions any peace talks would begin is entirely up to Ukraine.

In particular, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he should start considering peace talks with Moscow. According to the WSJ, this happened during a meeting between the three leaders in Paris earlier this month, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO, the European Union and Ukraine are developing long-term arrangements for the security of Ukraine and Europe.

• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expects that by the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, the allies will be able to finalize a draft security guarantee for Ukraine. He is also convinced that Ukraine will join NATO in the future, and the allies are working on its rapprochement with the Alliance today.

• On the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, NATO issued a statement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and increased support for Ukraine.