The end of June saw a number of significant highest-level international events. The NATO summit took place in The Hague, the Netherlands, on June 24-25, resulting in the shortest communiqué in the history of such gatherings. It contains only five paragraphs, including particularly on Ukraine’s security interests. On top of that, EU leaders, excepting Hungary, gathered at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, on June 26 to endorse the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession (the opening of the first cluster), but the 18th package of sanctions against Russia has not yet been approved.
On the previous day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset signed an agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression by Russa against Ukraine. But the question is: will this help restore justice and bring Russia’s top war criminal Vladimir Putin to justice? Ukrinform sat down for an interview with Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the Presidential Office, to discuss this and the most important results of the highest-level meetings that took place in The Hague, Strasbourg and Brussels.
AID TO UKRAINE WORTH 35 BILLION HAS BEEN ENDORSED AT THE LEVEL OF NATO HEADS OF STATE
– Ihor Ivanovich, how do you assess the results of the summit in The Hague, considering that the United States signed the final declaration among other NATO member nations, where aid to Ukraine is included in defense budgets?
– My assessment is more than positive. Indeed, the preparation process for the summit was not an easy one. And you may know that, at different stages, it was said that the NATO summit may end up without a final declaration, just as it happened at the most recent G7 summit, where no joint document was signed, but only statements by individual states on individual issues. It was also known that, even if a joint statement was signed, it would be short, which is what ultimately happened.
Five paragraphs is an unprecedentedly short statement. But it is very important that it contains a mention of only one partner country, and this is Ukraine. And it is not just mentioned, as you rightly noted, but mentioned in a pretty favorable context. In the paragraph on the proposed 5% GDP defense spending, the Alliance member states confirmed their unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine, whose security is integral to the Alliance’s security. This is a reality, you and I are aware of this, but what is important is that this is placed on record in the Hague NATO Summit declaration.
Direct contributions to the defense of Ukraine and its defense industry will be factored in the process of calculating Alliance member states’ defense budgets starting from the nearest fiscal period, that is, from 2026. That is to say that the countries will not wait until 2035, the deadline for achieving certain indicators, but will help now.
I would like to draw special attention to the fact that the declaration states that the Alliance members will allocate funds not only for the supply of their own weapons to Ukraine, but also to support the defense industry in Ukraine. You know that some NATO member states are already doing this. I will mention Denmark, Germany, other Northern European countries. But this decision by the NATO summit makes this mandatory for other member states. These few words are actually very important, these are not just empty promises. We are grateful to our partners, “like-minded countries”, who also fought within the Alliance for this wording.
Another important result is that the foreign ministerial meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council has taken place. And one of the results of this year was that some countries have announced new military aid packages for Ukraine.
And another important thing about the Hague Summit is that all previous decisions regarding Ukraine remain valid, including the Washington Summit statement on Ukraine’s irreversible path to NATO membership, the relevant decisions by the Vilnius Summit, and all the achievements that we have today. This means that Ukraine continues on this path, and, of course, we will do everything we can to achieve a consensus among NATO Member States that would allow us to continue moving confidently along this path.
You have heard about the 35 billion in aid to Ukraine budgeted for the next year – NATO’s role will be to coordinate the timely provision of this aid to Ukraine by Member States.
And, of course, I cannot fail to note that paragraph two of the declaration states that Russia remains a threat to the security of the Alliance as a whole. This is a statement of reality, which is once again enshrined in the NATO Summit declaration. On top of that, a summit always provides an opportunity for holding bilateral and multilateral meetings in various formats. The President met with the leaders of the E-5 – these are the leaders of France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Poland. And there was also a joint meeting held with Northern European heads of state — Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway — where the positions enshrined in the summit declaration were agreed in more detail, including on financing Ukraine’s defense industry and the continuation of the activities of our joint formats.
President Zelensky has met for separate bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of Denmark, the Chancellor of Germany, and the President of France, where bilateral and multilateral issues were discussed among others. The results exceeded even the most optimistic expectations…
– Well, and a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump has taken place…
– A meeting with the U.S. President was very important, indeed. It lasted, as everyone already knows, longer than 40 minutes. Indeed, the atmosphere was more than positive; they talked, among other things, about the defense of Ukraine, about providing assistance in the field of air defense. We know that the President of Ukraine has repeatedly told the President of the United States that the Patriot system is one of the best, if not the best system in the world, which shoots down, in particular, Russian ballistic missiles. We could not help but use this opportunity to raise this issue again. And this has had positive results.
– At the end of June, several other important international events took place, including the European Council meeting, but everyone noticed that President Zelensky’s speech was delayed… And please tell me, is there any future chance to overcome Hungary’s negative interference in joint decisions by EU leaders?
– Regarding the President’s speech, there is no intrigue here; it’s just the sequence of discussions was altered. Discussion on the Ukrainian issue was preceded by that on the situation in the Middle East, and the discussions lasted longer than planned. The fact that the President of Ukraine is a regular participant in European Council summits has already become a good tradition. No meeting of the leaders of the EU Member States or the EU leadership takes place without Ukraine’s attendance. Sometimes this happens offline, but this time around Zelensky was speaking online. And indeed, there are several reasons that make the summit important. And we can talk as well about more than favorable outcomes for Ukraine, which are enshrined in relevant joint conclusions by the European Council. Fifteen points regarding Ukraine, I would not list them all…
– Which is the most important?
– There are several things. First, everyone are interested to know what will happen next to the institutional process of Ukraine’s accession, i.e. the opening of clusters. And we are aware of the opinion of one country, which for one reason or another is blocking the adoption of technical decisions. As of today, at the time of this conversation (June 27, – ed.), Ukraine has met all the conditions necessary for at least three clusters, cluster 1, cluster 2 and cluster 6 to open. We conducted the prescribed screening procedures, provided the results of these screenings to the European Commission, the European Commission assessed them positively, we fulfilled appropriate roadmaps for the first cluster, and voluntarily undertook to execute an action plan regarding ethnic minorities as part of the first cluster. That is, everything is ready; accordingly, everyone was waiting for a political decision to be made. And it is important that this political decision was adopted at the European Council summit meeting. Let me quote paragraph 14 on Ukraine: “The European Council invites the Council to take the next steps in the accession process in line with the merit-based approach, with clusters being opened when the conditions are met”, and the European Council “takes good note of the assessment of the Commission that the fundamentals cluster is ready to be opened”. That means to say, that the political decision has been made by leaders, relevant instructions have been issued to ministers of the European Union Member States. We will continue working further to ensure that the first and subsequent clusters are opened very soon.
Let me remind you that Denmark will hold the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU from July 1 to December 31, 2025. During Ukrainian President’s meeting at The Hague, in particular, with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Ms. Mette Frederiksen, the largest part of the conversation was dedicated precisely to the Danish EU presidency. We see that Ukraine is identified as priority No. 1 among Denmark’s priorities for its upcoming EU Council Presidency.
We talked with the Prime Minister about how to quickly ensure that not only this first cluster opens, because our ambition remains valid – to open all six clusters by the time Denmark’s presidency comes to an end. Ukraine will be internally ready for all six clusters to open by September. There are three clusters ready now, and we are working on the next three. This is a realistic task, the relevant entities in Ukraine are working on this. Above all, among them are Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna and relevant diplomatic services.
The second important conclusion is about sanctions. As we know, the 18th package has not yet been approved by the Member States due to the position of one individual country. This package is very ambitious, and, as the Member States themselves describe it, is “biting”. There are good things included there, in particular, a ban on European companies to participate in any form in Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline operations. There are additional sanctions imposed on Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, including personal sanctions against captains and owners of seagoing vessels. There are what we refer to as “secondary sanctions”. The European Council decision says that “The European Union, together with partners, is determined to limit Russia’s ability to continue waging its war of aggression. Sanctions are an essential part of the EU’s policy to achieve this common objective.“
And the third decision I would like to highlight is the fixing of the amount of expenditure the European Union will provide to Ukraine throughout this year. First of all, this is financial budgetary support amounting to 30.6 billion euros. Of these, a certain potion had already been disbursed to Ukraine earlier this year, including 3.5 billion provided through the Ukraine Facility, 7 billion through a loan under the G7 ERA initiative, to be repaid using windfall proceeds from frozen Russian assets, with the remaining amount to be disbursed by the end of the year; that is, we have full financial support from the European Union. The EU has additionally determined a political position that Russia’s assets should remain frozen until the cessation of military aggression against Ukraine and a compensation for the damage caused.
– If I may, I would like to clarify regarding clusters. When Ukraine completes its “homework”, and certain countries that are blocking its EU membership continue their negative interference, will the European Union leaders be able to ultimately achieve a decision?
– The problem is that the decision to open clusters must be made by all of the 27 Member States. You are asking what will happen if Hungary continues to block. Well, unfortunately, we cannot rule out anything, but I will say thus: both the European Commission and individual Member States are discussing alternative options on how to avoid slowing down of the process. Again, today there are no legal grounds not to open the first three clusters, on which Ukraine has completed its homework. Everyone recognizes this, there is only one obstacle remaining in place. But I still believe in the ability of the European Union leaders to come to terms and influence the positions of certain leaders.
PUNISHMENT OF THE MAIN AGGRESSOR IS IRREVERSIBLE
– On June 26, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset signed an Agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal. The question arises regarding the impossibility of a trial in absentia under this document. How to make this tribunal effective and bring the war criminal Putin to justice?
– This is not quite the case. The President of Ukraine and the Secretary General signed an agreement on the establishment of the tribunal, and there is the corresponding Statute that is part to this agreement. So, in Article 4, Paragraph 2 of this Statute there is a key provision from which we should start: “For the purpose of this Statute, the official position of any accused person at the time of the alleged commission of a crime, whether as head of State or government, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official, shall not relieve such person of criminal responsibility nor mitigate punishment”. This is very important. That is, the inevitability of punishment is enshrined in this paragraph. Why was the Special Tribunal needed? Only it, no other bodies, neither the International Criminal Court, nor the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, nor other institutions can punish any official for the crime of aggression committed by senior officials of the Russian Federation. It was the crime of aggression that caused other war crimes that are currently ongoing during the Russian aggression in Ukraine. For this purpose, the Special Tribunal was created, and it will punish the officials responsible for the crime of aggression. Today, this Statute has been endorsed, to be followed by an appropriate expanded agreement, which, in fact, will allow the tribunal to begin its activities. Let me remind you that it is very important that the tribunal will be located in the city of The Hague…
-Quite symbolically…
– The level of symbolism is off the charts. Specific issues of functioning were discussed with the Dutch side, but some time must pass before it is operational. As the Tribunal begins its work already, officials can be held accountable, and almost all individuals – except for the president, prime minister and foreign minister – will definitely get an indictment and, ultimately, a punishment verdict. This will happen even in their absence, “in absentia”. Everyone is, of course, interested in what you are talking about – what will happen to the main aggressor? Yes, there is not only the Statute of the Tribunal, but also diplomatic practice – heads of state, while in office, cannot receive an indictment and then a sentence. But this does not prevent the start of the investigation: the tribunal is working, collecting evidence, which is handed over by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The indictments, in particular against the president, prime minister and foreign minister, will be made public. And the rest of the officials – the Minister of Defense, the army commanders, all ministers, representatives of regional authorities – will all go through the entire trial process and at once, including the indictment and the verdict of the Special Tribunal. As for the main aggressor, the punishment process is irreversible, and it will definitely come for him.
– Turkish President Erdogan stated on June 26, that Turkey continues efforts to end the Russo-Ukrainian war, to facilitate peace, noting that Trump allegedly promises to personally attend the next round of negotiations and, moreover, guarantees Vladimir Putin’s attendance. What do you think of the prospect for such negotiations?
– We are grateful to President Erdogan for continuing his efforts in the negotiation process. But so far, the only result of those rounds that took place at Istanbul was only a mutual exchange of prisoners of war. Ukrainian prisoners returned home, and at least for this purpose negotiations were worth holding.
Unfortunately, we all saw the level of the Russian delegation. The President of Ukraine has repeatedly said that he is ready to hold negotiations at the highest level, and this is for one simple reason. Only one person in the aggressor country decides what needs to be decided. After all, achieving a ceasefire is the first indispensable and unavoidable milestone. This is about an unconditional and comprehensive ceasefire in the air, on the water and on the ground. This would lay the foundation for a full-fledged negotiation process to establish peace. In the aggressor country, only one person is capable of making such decisions, and this is Putin. We know that President Erdogan too is making efforts to this end, and we have repeatedly heard the President of the United States being ready and willing to facilitate this.
THE NETHERLANDS AND DENMARK ARE BRINGING FORWARD DEFENSE COOPERATION WITH UKRAINE
– The Netherlands announced earlier this week the allocation of a large military assistance package for Ukraine worth over 175 million euros. How do you view the deepening of bilateral defense cooperation and investing in the defense sector?
– The outcomes of the negotiations with the Netherlands are very good, including particularly on the issues you are talking about. True, 175 million euros has been disbursed in funding for specific military aid packages. The Netherlands takes a firm place among the top five countries in terms of the amount of military aid provided to Ukraine. At a meeting with Prime Minister Schoof, the President said that the Netherlands could as well invest in the Ukrainian defense industry. Again, let’s return to the NATO Summit declaration. The Netherlands is a member of NATO, and so the NATO decision is binding on that country too, and it is ready to do so.
– In this context, let’s as well mention Denmark, given that our two countries signed an unprecedented agreement on June 25, which will make Denmark the first country to agree to collaborative defense production projects with Ukraine, to be more precise, the production of long-range drones and missiles outside Ukraine…
– This year alone, with support from Denmark, 1.26 billion euros will be solicited in funding for domestic defense production in Ukraine. These are Danish government funds, as well as funds from Northern European countries, which they direct through Denmark, plus the European Union funding from windfall proceeds from immobilized Russian assets, which are currently used primarily for funding Ukraine’s defense needs, for our domestic defense production. Of the latest 1.9 billion euros tranche we have received from the European Union as part of the frozen assets, 1 billion went to defense production projects in Ukraine. What you are talking about is a follow-up to this issue, but with broader prospects. I would not get ahead of events, but, I think, you will see more specifics about that next week.
GERMANY PROVIDES PRIVATE FUNDING FOR LONG-RANGE DRONE PRODUCTION IN UKRAINE
– On May 28, you visited Berlin for a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Friedrich Merz. It emerged later that Germany is ready and willing to fund the production of long-range weapons for Ukraine. How do you assess the engagement between our countries, the engagement between our leaders, and what other steps Berlin is ready to take to support the Ukrainian Defense Forces?
– The visit by the President of Ukraine, which took place literally in the third week of Chancellor Merz’s term in office was very good, highly productive. Let me remind you that Mr. Merz arrived in Kyiv on the fourth day of his chancellorship. We all remember this collective visit with the leaders of other states, when we held another meeting of the Coalition of the Willing. Immediately after that the President of Ukraine received an invitation to come to Berlin, and this visit took place. Germany is currently the top country in terms of the amount of funding provided for weapons for Ukraine. We have a bilateral security agreement, where a specific amount of funding is fixed for each respective year. But it has become a good tradition that Germany invariably exceeds this amount. Recall that even before Chancellor Merz came to power, the amount was increased by 3 billion, and it had reached 7 billion by the time of the visit. The result of the visit by the President of Ukraine to Berlin was that this amount will increase by another 1.9 billion this year to reach close to 9 billion euros. So, this is the first aspect.
The second aspect you’ve mention is that Germany has started financing the defense-industrial sector of Ukraine. Relevant documents have been signed, where a specific amount is specified, which we agreed not to disclose. Indeed, a precedent has been set, where Germany will start financing Ukraine’s defense-industrial sector, including particularly the production of Long-Range Drones, and this work is already underway, companies are already working.
The third significant component and an achievement of this visit is that we are talking about being willing to obtain appropriate licenses for the production of those types of weapons that Ukraine does not yet produce domestically. We are particularly aware that Germany is a top leader in providing us with air defense capabilities, and these are not just Patriot’s, but also IRIS-T’s. Seven such systems have been delivered so far. We have set a delivery schedule specifying how many more systems will be delivered during the next four years. The figure is pretty high; these systems will arrive in Ukraine to secure our skies. These systems require missiles. This is a kind of materiel that, unfortunately, is fast consumable, so our talk was also about this.
COMPANIES FROM THOSE STATES THAT ARE HELPING US TODAY WILL REBUILD UKRAINE
– The Ukraine Recovery Conference will be taking place in Rome from July 10 to 11. What will be Ukraine’s main messages? How to persuade partners to invest despite the full-scale war ongoing?
– We want this conference to be as practical as possible. While in the first years of full-scale Russian aggression these platforms were used more for political support, now we are waiting for practical steps to be taken. There should be in place an explicit plan for rebuilding Ukraine. There should be a certainty as to the amount and mechanism of the funding to be spent on that effort, and there should be a clear understanding of the timeline within which this reconstruction has to be done. Of course, as it traditional for this format, not only heads of state and government will be involved, but also companies who will have the opportunity to intercommunicate with each other. Ukraine’s presence on the market has huge importance, which the President notes all the time. During each international visit, he holds meetings with businesses, attended by leaders of host countries. Those who are now thinking about increasing investments, ramping up their activities or entering the Ukrainian market will already have, let’s say, relevant firm positions when rebuilding Ukraine. Because, obviously enough, there will be many willing to get involved, but, you know, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Therefore, those who are standing with Ukraine today, those who are helping Ukraine financially, are not leaving the market, ramping up their investments and are already thinking about the reconstruction today, they will certainly have the primary right to participating in this process.
– Does that mean to say that the countries who are currently facilitating the importation of dual-use goods to Russia will lose this opportunity?
– They will have no place in the process of rebuilding Ukraine.
THE COALITION OF THE WILLING CONTINUES WORKING
– Speaking in an interview with the French news agency AFP in March, you said that Kyiv was expecting a robust presence of European countries and their military in Ukraine. What was the response to these words of yours, and how can the Coalition of the Willing evolve into a Coalition of the Resolute, ready to deploy at least a few thousand troops to Ukraine?
– This issue is constantly being discussed, the Coalition of the Willing continues its work. Let me remind you once again that the latest meeting was held on May 10 in Kyiv in a hybrid format. Some of the leaders were present here, while some attended online. The military, primarily from Ukraine, France, and the United Kingdom, are working on specific aspects of the forces’ deployment. Again, I am not empowered to make this public, but the work is ongoing. The military are reporting to their commanders, to their leaders. The President of Ukraine, during his meeting with French President Macron in The Hague and during his meeting with Prime Minister Starmer in London, was talking about the further activities of the Coalition. In a very short while the Coalition of the Willing will convene for a new meeting at the level of country leaders. And we will assess where we are and where we are moving.
– In the West, Russia and Russian propaganda machine are extensively using the manipulative thesis that “this war is not yours,” inviting pseudo-pacifists and paid experts from different countries throughout the world to promote their propaganda narratives. How far, in your opinion, have Europe shifted its thinking towards an understanding that Russia is posing a tangible threat not just to former Soviet Union countries but also to all of Europe?
– The European thinking is gradually shifting in a direction that is favorable for us. I think everyone in all of the European countries understands the critical importance of counteracting Russia’s propaganda machine and Russian narratives. Today, Ukraine is taking on the initiative; we are talking at multilateral meetings with representatives of European countries that it is high time to consolidate efforts in counteracting Russia’s propaganda machine and Russian narratives. Each country is indeed taking its own measures to that end, and we see how Russian propaganda narratives can sometimes have an impact even on political processes [in foreign countries]. We remember the elections in individual European countries, and we remember such apparently pro-Russian politicians being prevented from coming to power. But the President of Ukraine is talking about the need to join forces. Perhaps it is time to talk not just about coordinated efforts between Ukraine and European countries, but also about introducing some coordinating functions at the level of the European Union. This work is in progress, and my confidence is that by acting together, by joining forces we will achieve even more beneficial results.
– We are witnessing how the world order, which was established more than 80 years ago at the Yalta Conference, is being disrupted. How would you describe the world order currently being reshaped, and what place is given to Ukraine in it?
– Indeed, the Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations no longer exists, today we can talk about the formation of a new system of international relations, a new security architecture. And Ukraine’s role here is undoubtedly significant. It is now impossible to talk about European security while not talking about Ukraine, which, unfortunately, was customary just 10 years ago. And today, Ukraine, joined with its European partners, is defining the outlines of both European security architecture and the emerging system of international relations. But, of course, here we cannot fail to talk about what is conventionally referred to as the “transatlantic link” and the coordination between Europe and the United States of America.
It is very important that despite Russia’s efforts, everyone saw that the connection between Europe and the United States remains in place. You heard multiple European representatives saying that the decision to boost defense spending to 5% GDP is positive. Let’s recall that just a few years ago, 2% GDP spent by a country on defense was a revolution. Now we see that this is not enough. And 5% is good, and we really have to give credit to President Trump for initiating this decision and for it ultimately being adopted by consensus.
This is another component to the emerging international relations system and overall transatlantic security architecture. This security is impossible to achieve without a robust transatlantic bond. Needless to say, countries like Russia or other pariah countries will attempt breaking it apart. So, the third important aspect is our coordination with the Global South countries.
I will cite just one example – the Ukraine Peace Summit, which took place a year ago, on June 15-16, in Switzerland, where representatives of Europe, Americas, and the Global South came together to jointly discuss peace in Ukraine. And this is an important component to European and global security.
These are the three pillars on which a new system of international relations will be resting. We also need to talk about reforming the activities of international institutions. There is a common consensus that the UN, unfortunately, is not fully executing its role. The UN Security Council, as we can see, is not a safeguard against aggression. The veto authority enjoyed by the five states sitting in the UN Security Council and the very composition of the permanent members of the Security Council need to be revised along with the quotas allocated to non-permanent members. By the way, we see another example of the emerging system – Ukraine has been invariably present in all of the G7 summits in the past few years. It is also hard to imagine the European Council without Ukraine, even though Ukraine is not yet a member of the EU. We cannot imagine NATO summits without meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Council and so on. That is, Ukraine, in actual fact, already has this place – unique and key – in the European and international security system, and it indeed continues executing its mission.
Anna Kostyuchenko led this conversation
Photo credit: Office of the President of Ukraine
Source: Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office
