KYIV – Ukrainian national deputies on March 22 adopted draft resolution No. 6111 – the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada to the U.S. Congress regarding security guarantees.
The resolution was supported by 232 members of the Ukrainian Parliament.
“Ukraine seeks to significantly deepen the bilateral security partnership between Ukraine and the United States… In accordance with the spirit and letter of the Budapest Memorandum, as well as for sake of the development of the strategic partnership between our states, we ask the United States to consider the issue of concluding a defensive agreement with Ukraine and granting Ukraine the status of a major non-NATO ally,” the resolution says.
The resolution also noted that granting Ukraine major non-NATO ally (MNNA) status and concluding a U.S.-Ukraine bilateral defensive agreement will have a huge impact on ending Russian aggression against Ukraine, deterring the aggressor and preventing a larger war in Europe. This is in the interests of Ukraine, the United States, Europe and the entire world, the resolution reads.
Editor’s note: According to the U.S. State Department, MNNA status provides a long-term framework for security and defense cooperation to countries that have a strategic partnership with the U.S. but are not members of NATO. MNNA qualifies a country for certain privileges supporting defense and security cooperation, but it does not entail any security commitment to that country. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko had requested such a status back in July 2014, and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America has pressed for this designation for Ukraine.