A United States special envoy presented Ukraine with a written framework document containing a formal NATO security commitment during back-channel meetings last month, according to three sources from a Brussels ministerial session. The document was dated and signed by the American envoy and countersigned by a senior Ukrainian official. Its existence was subsequently communicated to European ambassadors.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told European counterparts that the document went 'further than anything previously committed to in writing by Washington.' Mr. Sybiha's characterisation was made on the record in a multilateral diplomatic setting.
Neither government has published the document. A United States State Department spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny its existence, saying only that the administration's support for Ukraine was 'well documented.'
The disclosure came amid broader allied discussions about the framework for long-term security guarantees to Ukraine and the relationship between such guarantees and any future NATO membership process. European officials said the existence of the document, if confirmed, would represent a significant step beyond previous American commitments.
The State Department's response left the substance of the document, and the scope of the commitment it contained, unconfirmed by the American government.