Russia first announced a draft preliminary treaty with Ukraine in March 2022, Denmark needs the US to 'give the green light' to transfer F-16s to Kiev

On June 17, during talks with a high-level African diplomatic delegation in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a draft preliminary agreement with Ukraine, a document that was drafted in March 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Quốc gia EU chặn viện trợ cho Ukraine; Kiev nêu kỳ vọng với phương Tây về F-16, nhận 'quà' lớn từ Hàn Quốc. (Nguồn: Arenalogic)

Denmark wants to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. (Source: Arenalogic)

President Putin said: “As you know, a series of talks between Russia and Ukraine have taken place in Türkiye to develop confidence-building measures and draft the text of a treaty.”

We did not agree with the Ukrainian side that this agreement would be kept confidential, but we never published or commented on it. This draft treaty was initialed by the head of the negotiating team from Kyiv. He put his signature on it. Here it is!

According to President Putin, the aforementioned document is called the "Treaty on Permanent Neutrality and Security Guarantees for Ukraine," and comprises 18 articles. Point 1 of Article 1 in the draft treaty states: "Ukraine commits to maintaining its permanent neutrality, as declared and enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine."

The following points of the document affirm that the guarantor states recognize, respect, and guarantee Ukraine's status as a permanently neutral state, and commit to ensuring its adherence to this status at the international level.

In return, Kyiv “committed to refraining from actions that violate the international legal framework of permanent neutrality.”

The list of guarantor states listed in the preamble of the draft treaty includes Britain, China, Russia, the United States and France.

In a related development, on the same day, June 17, Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced that Copenhagen was ready to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and hoped the US would support this decision.

Speaking at the Folkemødet forum in Allinge, Poulsen said that the final decision had not yet been made and that Denmark could not decide on its own but needed Washington's "green light" because the F-16 fighter jets were developed by the United States.

Previously, Denmark and the Netherlands had committed to beginning training Ukrainian pilots and aircraft technicians on F-16 multirole fighter jets.

Media reports indicate that the administration of US President Joe Biden is "signaling to European allies" that Washington will not hinder its determination to send F-16s to Ukraine.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the U.S. will not be supplying F-16s from its military stockpile. Instead, Washington may “focus more on third-party transfers, but President Biden has not made a final decision.”

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