The foreign ministers of the NATO countries will start discussions on a large military support package today. However, its passage is considered uncertain.
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has proposed one hundred billion euros in military support from NATO to Ukraine. The five-year military aid package would increase the direct role of the defense alliance in supporting Ukraine. Diplomatic sources told about it on Tuesday.
According to the plan, NATO would take over part of the coordination work, which is now handled by the US-led alliance. According to diplomatic sources, the change would be partly designed to protect Ukraine from cuts in US aid in the event that Donald Trump returns to the presidency of the United States.
The proposal is to be discussed at a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers today and tomorrow at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The goal is to have the package ready before the NATO summit in July in Washington, USA.
NATO has refused to comment further on Stoltenberg’s proposal, but according to an official source, the foreign ministers will discuss “the best way to organize NATO’s support for Ukraine, how to make the support more efficient, predictable and sustainable”.
According to an official source, the ministerial meeting being organized now will not make final decisions about military support, but the discussions will continue until the summit in Washington.
Diplomatic sources warned that the discussions on Stoltenberg’s proposal are still at a very early stage and it is uncertain whether the 100 billion euro support package will be approved or how it would be financed.
All NATO decisions require consensus among the 32 member countries of the military alliance.
– The support package of one hundred billion euros seems very optimistic, knowing how difficult it has been to agree on smaller amounts at the EU level, an anonymous diplomatic source told the news agency Reuters.
In NATO, readiness to commit more strongly to supporting Ukraine
Up until now, NATO as an organization has avoided giving direct military aid to Ukraine in the fear that a bigger role of the defense alliance in helping Ukraine could cause tensions with Russia to escalate. Most of the NATO member countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine through bilateral agreements.
According to diplomatic sources, however, the view has now been strengthened within NATO that the time has come to increase long-term and sustainable military aid to Ukraine.
Source: Reuters