The signing of security cooperation agreements between Ukraine and its partners is nothing more than the already open process of Ukraine's accession to NATO, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak has said.

"We consider the signing of such agreements as an intermediate stage towards full membership in NATO. At the same time, this is already specific work on our future entry into NATO. Because each such agreement contains confirmation from one or another country of support for us on this path and adaptation of our legislation, military industry and military potential to NATO standards," he said at the Ukraine. Year 2024 conference on Sunday, February 25.

"Therefore, the signing of security agreements is already an open process for Ukraine's accession to NATO," he said.

The head of the presidential office also said that several more states will soon sign such agreements with Ukraine.

Answering the question what guarantees exist that the Vilnius Declaration will not become a new Budapest Memorandum, Yermak replied: "I once said that under President [of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelenskyy there will be no Minsk-3, so under this president there will never be a Budapest."

"We have drawn conclusions from our country's mistakes over this entire period, and therefore today we believe in specifics, we believe in legal obligations, and this is what the agreements that we have already signed with six countries are based on," he said.