On Thursday, President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a 10-year US-Ukraine bilateral military agreement on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
The deal affirms that the US will continue training Ukrainian forces, providing military aid, and helping build up Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. But the agreement could be easily reversed by a future president and is largely symbolic since it doesn’t commit the US to any spending.
US officials told CNN that the deal was an “executive agreement” rather than a formal treaty, which means it doesn’t require the approval of the Senate. The text says that either party could scrap the agreement “by providing a written notification through diplomatic channels to the other Party of its intent to terminate.”
The deal says that if Ukrainian territory is attacked in the future, the two parties should hold consultations within 24 hours, but it does not provide a mutual defense guarantee.
The text says the US and Ukraine recognize the agreement as “supporting a bridge to Ukraine’s eventual membership in the NATO Alliance,” but it doesn’t outline a clear path to Ukraine’s membership. It only repeats a vague promise NATO members gave to Ukraine at the Vilnius summit last year that they would eventually invite Ukraine to join “when Allies agree and conditions are met.”
Zelensky fumed at the NATO summit last year over the vague guarantee, but he is celebrating the new deal with the US and framing it as a path toward NATO membership. “Today is a truly historic day. And we have signed the strongest agreement between Ukraine and the US since our independence,” Zelensky said at a press conference with Biden.
France and some other NATO members are working on a plan to send troops to Ukraine for training, which would mark a huge escalation, but Biden said in his remarks that the new agreement supports Ukraine without sending US troops to the country.
“Not by sending American troops to fight [in] Ukraine but by providing weapons and ammunition, expanded intelligence sharing, continue to train brave Ukrainian troops at bases in Europe and the United States, enhancing interoperability between our militaries in line with NATO standards, investing in Ukraine’s defense industrial base so in time … they can supply their own weapons,” Biden said.