MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Twelve more countries have joined a declaration on security guarantees to be provided to Kiev, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed in a speech posted on his Telegram channel.

"As for security guarantees on our path to NATO, a package of security guarantees for our country will be fully specified in the second half of the year. As of today, another 12 partner countries joined the joint declaration of the Group of Seven," Zelensky said, addressing a meeting with the heads of Ukrainian diplomatic missions.

According to him, these countries include Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden. Zelensky added that Ukraine expected to begin work on singing bilateral agreements on security guarantees later in the week.

The Ukrainian authorities had stepped up their rhetoric promoting Kiev’s NATO membership aspirations before the North Atlantic Alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12, emphasizing their ambition to receive an invitation for fast-track accession to the military bloc. However, the leaders of NATO countries were unwilling to take that step and restricted themselves to approving a multi-year program of military assistance for Ukraine, which is supposed to continue even after the current conflict ends. In addition, the Group of Seven adopted a declaration on long-term security guarantees for Ukraine on the sidelines of the summit, which in particular states that Kiev needs to obtain a significant military capacity. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the move, in fact, meant that the G7 was encroaching on Russia’s security.

On July 30, Office of the President of Ukraine Head Andrey Yermak announced that Kiev and Washington were about to initiate bilateral talks on security guarantees. Biden administration officials later confirmed this information. US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the negotiations would begin this week. According to him, the talks on security guarantees will be held in line with the commitments that the G7 nations made on the sidelines of NATO’s Vilnius summit.