News - World: The Group of Seven (G7) countries have offered Ukraine a long-term and wide-ranging security package at the NATO summit as Kiev strives toward membership in the US-led Western military alliance.

Leaders of the world's most industrialized countries revealed a strategy on Wednesday, focusing on Ukraine's long-term security. The plan aims to bolster Ukraine’s military capabilities, transforming it into a robust military fortress to deter future cross-border military actions by Russia, Western media reported.

The package, which has a direct message to the Kremlin, was offered to Kiev on the second day of the two-day NATO summit in Lithuania as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting with NATO leaders at a summit of the 31-member Western military bloc.

NATO leaders on the first day of the summit declared that Ukraine's future lay inside the US-led alliance but rebuffed Zelensky's desperate call for setting a timeline for membership.

NATO's Article 5 stipulates that an attack on one member is an attack on all, which means that if Ukraine is added to the bloc while it is still at war, all NATO members must enter a full-fledge and direct war with Russia, and this is not the bloc's intention right now.

NATO has so far pointedly refrained from giving military assistance to Ukraine as an organization. Nevertheless, Ukraine has so far managed to reap rewards in the form of current and long-term security commitments it has lobbied for.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States have been in talks with Ukraine for the past several weeks over a multilateral text to establish a wide-ranging international framework.

The global package encompasses various elements, including advanced military equipment, such as fighter jets, as well as training, intelligence-sharing and cyber-defense.

"Today we are launching negotiations with Ukraine to formalize - through bilateral security commitments and arrangements aligned with this multilateral framework, in accordance with our respective legal and constitutional requirements - our enduring support to Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity," the G7 countries said in a joint statement.

At the signing ceremony of the plan in Vilnius on Wednesday,  US President Joe Biden hailed it as  "a powerful statement of our commitment to Ukraine."

Zelensky, for his part, said, "Today there are security guarantees for Ukraine on the way to NATO...that shall be further extended through arrangements with our key partners. (Our) delegation is bringing home significant a security victory for Ukraine."

The G7, which comprises the US, Germany, Japan, France, Canada, Italy and Britain, as well as the European Union, further said in its declaration on Wednesday that said other countries could also sign on to make their own commitments, adding that the member states would begin bilateral talks with Kiev immediately.

Source: Press TV