Ukraine ready to start talks with Portugal on bilateral document on security guarantees - Zelensky

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Ukraine is ready to launch negotiations with Portugal to develop a bilateral document on security guarantees, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said.

"Portugal joined the G7 Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine. After that, as we started work to draft a bilateral document on security guarantees with the United States and the United Kingdom, we are ready to start this work with Portugal as well," Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as telling journalists following talks with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Kiev.

Since the start of the crisis, Portugal has been providing assistance to Ukraine primarily in political and humanitarian issues, also supporting Kiev's European integration ambitions, a report published on Zelensky's website said.

"We understood that we needed to rally the EU not only around military assistance but also around humanitarian and above all political support, because political unity has an impact on everything else - on supplies of both weapons and humanitarian aid," the Ukrainian president said.

The strong relations that have been built between the two countries mean that Portugal fully supports Ukraine on its path into the European Union and NATO, Zelensky said.