NATO boss floats 100 billion euro military aid fund for Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attends a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium March 14, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg has proposed a 100 billion euro ($107 billion), five-year package of military aid to Ukraine that would give the Western alliance a more direct role in providing support to Kyiv, five diplomats said on Tuesday.
Under the plan, NATO would take over some coordination work from a U.S.-led ad-hoc coalition known as the Ramstein group – a step designed in part to guard against any cut in U.S. support if Donald Trump returns to the White House, diplomats said.
The proposal is expected to be discussed at a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday, with the aim of finalising a package in time for a NATO summit in Washington in July.
Until now, NATO as an organisation has restricted itself to non-lethal aid for Ukraine out of fears that a more direct role could trigger an escalation of tensions with Russia. Most of its members provide weapons to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
But diplomats said there was a growing view within NATO that the time had come to put military aid to Ukraine on a more sustainable, long-term footing and the Western alliance was best placed to take on much of that role.
Some also said that threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would regard various steps taken by NATO allies as escalatory had not led to retaliatory action against them.
As part of the plan, NATO would create a NATO Mission for Ukraine, although it was as yet unclear whether the mission would operate inside the country, diplomats said. Some countries were cautious about even naming the operation as a mission.
Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, has said the plan is partly “to shield against winds of political change” in any NATO member but Trump is uppermost in the minds of many, a senior NATO diplomat said.
