Ukraine has signed a joint declaration with Belgium and the Netherlands, who have pledged to support Kyiv on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration and strengthen country's military capabilities in every possible way.

"The document covers the most important issues on the joint agenda: meeting Ukraine's urgent defence needs, supporting the Ukrainian Formula for Peace, advancing Ukraine's NATO membership, ensuring Ukraine's security, holding Russia accountable, as well as further strengthening anti-Russian sanctions and developing a mechanism for compensating losses caused by Russian aggression," informed Igor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the OP.

The leaders of Ukraine and Belgium signed a similar bilateral declaration in November 2022, but in the new document, the parties significantly specified the issue of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as managed to fix the need to consider security guarantees at the Vilnius Summit of NATO, Zhovkva noted.

An important element of the declaration is the recognition that Ukraine's security is of great importance to the Alliance (a similar formulation was included in the NATO Madrid Declaration in the context of the security of Finland and Sweden before they became members of the Alliance).

Also important is the shared understanding that all these most important issues for Ukraine, including security guarantees even before its accession to NATO, must be considered at the Vilnius Summit of NATO in July of this year.

"With the adoption of today's Joint Declaration, we have crossed a symbolic border – formalised support for Ukraine on the Euro-Atlantic track from 16 NATO member states, to which the Netherlands, 16 of our partners, have been added – this is already half of the Alliance's members, including Sweden, whose accession is expected very soon," Zhovkva added.

As informed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on a visit abroad on Thursday.