International Taskforce on Ukraine’s Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration outlines a clear path for Ukraine to join NATO and proposes immediate steps to reinforce Ukraine’s security.

The International Taskforce led by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak today released a report entitled Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Future: Paving the path to peace & security.

The report outlines concrete proposals to immediately reinforce Ukraine’s security, help to contain and then end the war, and bridge Ukraine to its future in NATO. It recommends:

• Issuing an invitation at the NATO Summit in Washington D.C. for Ukraine to start accession talks to join the alliance and inviting the NATO-Ukraine Council to define specific conditions for membership.
• Setting a clear timeframe for Ukrainian NATO membership of no later than July 2028, provided specific conditions are met.
• Containing the war as a first step to ending the war, by strengthening Ukraine and its allies’ efforts to deny Russia’s operational success on land, at sea, and in the air.
• Lifting all caveats on types of conventional weapons delivered to Ukraine and all caveats on their use against military targets inside Russia.
• Bringing the web of bilateral security agreements between Ukraine and its partners under the framework of an international compact.
• Building Ukraine’s future force so that it can reach – before the end of the decade – a size and structure robust enough to defend against a future conventional attack by Russia and positively contribute to NATO’s collective defence plans.
• A commitment by NATO Allies to spend the equivalent of 0.25% of their GDP on military assistance to Ukraine.
• Unblocking the $300 billion of frozen Russian assets and using them to support Ukraine.
• Setting clear reform and governance benchmarks for Ukraine, fully aligned with the EU accession process.
• Developing a set of assurances on the defensive nature of Ukraine’s future NATO membership.

The full report is available here – Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Future: Paving the path to peace & security

Speaking following the release of the report, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said:

“Bold action is needed to deliver a Ukrainian victory and a sustainable peace. NATO leaders need to make clear that our support for Ukraine’s security and sovereignty is irreversible. This report sets out clear measures to achieve that through enhanced economic and military support to contain and end Putin’s war. It also recommends NATO leaders open accession talks with Ukraine at the Washington D.C. summit in July. Bringing Ukraine into NATO is the surest path to lasting peace and security in Europe.”

Andriy Yermak, Head of Office to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added:

“Strong and clear decisions at the NATO Summit in July will be extremely important for the future just peace in Ukraine and the entire Euro-Atlantic region. They will also be a good motivation and strong support for the Ukrainian military and all our citizens,”

Report signatories from the International Task Force on Ukraine’s Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration:

Co-Chairs

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak

Former Prime Minister of Denmark and Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Members

Former President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė

Former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin

Former Prime Minister of Poland Marek Belka

Former Prime Minister of Slovakia Mikuláš Dzurinda

Former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence of Canada Peter MacKay

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defense of France Michèle Alliot-Marie

Former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom Lord William Hague

Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo H. Daalder

Former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker

Former National Security Advisor of Canada Jody Thomas

Former Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wesley Clark

Former NATO Assistant Secretary General Heinrich Brauss

Former NATO Assistant Secretary General Giedrimas Jeglinskas

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has established an international working group on security guarantees for Ukraine. The working group will be co-chaired by Head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak, and former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The working group will be made up of leading experts from politics, foreign policy, diplomacy, and academia. The exact composition of the group will be confirmed in the coming weeks. The group will put forward recommendations on an effective mechanism to guarantee Ukraine’s long-term security.

Speaking after the working group was announced, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said:

“It is an honour to have been asked by President Zelenskyy to co-chair this international working group. The overwhelming priority now is ensuring that Ukraine wins this war. However, we also need to find mechanisms to guarantee Ukraine’s long-term security.

“The Ukrainian people have shown immense bravery in the face of a barbaric and unprovoked invasion. We put guarantees in place to ensure that this can never happen again.

“No commitments from third countries can replace Ukraine’s own strong defence capabilities. The working group will also look at how Ukraine’s partners can help bolster and rebuild Ukraine’s armed forces to deter future aggression.”

Statement from the Office of the President of Ukraine