United to win: Ukraine and Finland sign security agreement

On April 3, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, signed an Agreement on cooperation in the field of security and long-term support.

The Office of the President of Ukraine reported this.

As noted, Finland formalized its readiness to continue supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression with this document.

Additionally, the Scandinavian country is committed to:

• providing long-term military and financial support;
• furthering cooperation in political, financial, humanitarian, and reform efforts with Ukraine.

Finland will help Ukraine:

• rebuild the energy sector,
• assess environmental damage,
• strengthen the protection of the border and critical infrastructure.
• It will also provide medical treatment to Ukrainian military personnel.

In addition, the document contains powerful blocks regarding:

• sanctions,
• damages,
• bringing the aggressor to justice.

The agreement also clearly confirms Finland's support for Ukraine's future membership in the EU and NATO.

It is worth adding that Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Alexander Stubb for the new 23rd package of aid to Ukraine in the amount of 188 million euros.

Thus, Finland's total support since the beginning of the full-scale aggression approached 2 billion euros.

"I am grateful for Finland's guarantees of continued military and financial support to our state. We have already received 400 million euros in military aid for 2024. And this amount will increase significantly by the end of this year thanks to at least two more aid packages," Ukraine's president noted.

Finland is preparing a four-year plan to support Ukraine. The budget for development and reconstruction is 290 million euros.

The agreement is valid for ten years and strengthens the support and protection of Ukraine on the way to membership in NATO and the EU.

The agreement with Finland was signed to implement the Joint Declaration on Support for Ukraine, dated July 12, 2023.

For reference:

A total of 32 states joined this initiative.

As of today, Ukraine has already concluded eight bilateral security agreements with Great Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and Finland.

According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, about 30 countries are ready to sign security agreements with Ukraine similar to the British one.