NATO summit participants do not agree to provide Ukraine with $40bn annually, but the alliance will lead arms supplies to Ukraine
About 700 NATO personnel will train Ukrainian military
Participants in the NATO Defence Ministers' Summit in Brussels agreed that the alliance will take a more active role in supplying weapons to Ukraine, which is countering Russian aggression. However, the members of the bloc have not yet agreed on Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's proposal to allocate $40 billion a year for Ukraine's defence.
The plan will be finally approved at the NATO leaders' summit in Washington, which will take place from 9 to 11 July.
According to Stoltenberg's statement published on NATO's website, the approved plan stipulates that the alliance will lead the coordination of military supplies to Ukraine and training of its military.
This will be done by about 700 NATO staff, including in the German city of Wiesbaden, where the alliance's coordination headquarters will be located.
"These efforts do not make NATO a party to the conflict, but will strengthen our support for Ukraine to ensure its right to self-defence," Stoltenberg said.
According to Reuters, the contact group known as the Ramstein format will continue to coordinate the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but NATO will take over the direct organisation of assistance to Ukraine at the level of military specialists.
This step is seen as an attempt by NATO members to protect Ukraine to some extent from a possible return to the White House of Donald Trump, who has expressed doubts about the need to continue military assistance to Kyiv, Reuters writes. However, if Washington really intends to cut off the channel of support for Ukraine, it will still succeed, the agency continues.
Stoltenberg also proposes to guarantee $40 billion in annual military aid to Ukraine, but NATO leaders have not yet agreed on this plan.
At a press conference, Stoltenberg said that the allies "still have work to do to reconcile our positions on the amount of long-term financial assistance."
Disagreements also remain over the wording on Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership, which Kyiv is seeking. NATO members are expected to develop a unified position on these issues before the Washington summit in July.
Background. Earlier, Stoltenberg said that the supply of weapons to Ukraine by NATO countries would become mandatory rather than voluntary.
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