UK PM Refuses to Use Term "Security Assurances" for Agreement with Ukraine

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking in the UK Parliament, has not used the term "security assurances" in relation to the agreement with Ukraine.

During his speech, which was mainly devoted to strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Sunak mentioned his visit to Kyiv last Friday.

He noted that the UK was the first country in Europe to train Ukrainian soldiers and to provide Ukraine with main battle tanks and long-range missiles.

"Now we are the first to keep the promise made at last year's NATO summit, along with other countries, to provide new bilateral security commitments," Sunak said, stressing that Ukraine's place in NATO is secure and the Alliance will be stronger with Ukraine in its ranks.

"But these commitments will only fill the gap until that day comes," he added.

Sunak also expressed hope that the UK Parliament would send a message of support to the people of Ukraine, that "we will stand as one in support of these commitments". Sunak's words were met with a favourable reaction from British MPs.

It should be noted that in Kyiv, Sunak did not use the term "security commitments", instead repeating several times that it was about "security assurances".

It was reported that after the signing of the security agreement between Ukraine and the UK, the leaders of the two countries disagreed on whether it could be called an agreement on security guarantees.

It is crucial to remember that the language used has significant political repercussions. The phrase "security assurances" is problematic for Ukraine because it was used in the title of the notorious Budapest Memorandum. For this reason, Ukraine is adamant about adopting "security guarantees", something that its international partners are not prepared for.

It is worth noting that the text of the agreement published on Friday does not contain any of these terms. Instead, the document refers to "security cooperation" and "security assistance".