Greece joins security guarantees for Ukraine

This was announced by Head of the President Office Andriy Yermak.

"Thanks to the people and government of Greece, which became the 14th country that joined the G7 Vilnius Declaration in support of Ukraine. The number of states that are ready to participate in ensuring Ukraine's ability to defend itself and prevent a recurrence of aggression is expanding," the statement said.

According to Yermak, there will be a lot of good news ahead.

Later, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the country and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for their commitment to the Ukrainian-Greek partnership.

"We are working together on Ukraine's path to NATO," Zelenskyy added.

Earlier, Ekathimerini reported that Ukraine held talks on security guarantees with Greece

At a broader political level, the parties are discussing the creation of a framework that will bring bilateral relations between Greece and Ukraine in line with the spirit of the declaration of the G7 leaders and later the European Council to continue long-term support for Kyiv on a practical level.

Discussions on the political dimension of the issue are currently taking place at the level of the foreign ministries.

If these discussions are concluded, the question of how to flesh out the individual dimensions of the agreement will also be considered. The Americans are also involved in these contacts.

Long-term goals include Ukraine's recovery and integration into Western European economic structures. One of the topics discussed is Ukraine's energy security, which is no longer dependent on Russia.

In terms of principles, international law, international justice and the rule of law are among the issues important to Greece. It is expected that Athens will try to play a role in this area.

The newspaper also reports on a warm telephone conversation on August 11 between Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

Gerapetritis stressed that Athens encourages all international initiatives aimed at restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and preventing humanitarian crises.

For his part, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister thanked his counterpart for Greece's support for the G7 Joint Statement in support of Ukraine.

The two ministers reaffirmed their readiness to expand bilateral cooperation and agreed on visits by Kuleba to Athens, followed by visits by Gerapetris to Kyiv and Odesa.

Declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine

On July 12, the G7 countries agreed on a shared statement about security guarantees for Ukraine. Anyone can join this agreement. US President Joe Biden said the statement promises to help Ukraine in the near and far future.

The President's Office said this is a big win for Ukraine's path to NATO. It happened after many months of effort from teams of security advisors from the USA, Great Britain, France, and Germany, and talking with other partners.

On the same day, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden also joined this statement. Later, Spain, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal did too.

On July 18, during talks at the UN General Assembly, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Kyiv wants all UN countries to think about joining the G7 statement on Ukraine's security.

On July 25, Romania chose to be part of the G7 countries' statement in support of Ukraine.

On August 3, it was reported that Ukraine has begun negotiations with the United States on security guarantees.

On August 8, EU foreign policy spokesperson Peter Stano said that the EU could not provide Ukraine with security guarantees because it is not a defence organisation. This should be discussed at the level of NATO and individual countries, he said.

The second country that Ukraine started talks with on security guarantees was the United Kingdom. Negotiations with London started on August 11.