NATO allies have agreed to fund military aid for Ukraine with 40 billion euros ($43 billion) next year, two Western European diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday, a week before the alliance's leaders are set to meet in Washington, APA reports citing Reuters.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had asked allies to make a multi-year commitment to keep military aid for Kyiv at the same level as that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, adding up to about 40 billion euros a year.
While the member states did not back Stoltenberg's original request for such a multi-year pledge, the pact includes a provision to re-evaluate allied contributions at future NATO summits, according to a diplomat.
Allies also decided to have two reports over the next year to establish which country supplies what to Ukraine, the diplomat said, to meet demands for more transparency over the burden sharing in the alliance.
Member states "will aim to meet this pledge through proportionate contributions", the agreement said.
The financial pledge is part of a broader Ukraine package that NATO leaders will agree when they gather for the Washington summit from July 9 to 11.
In June, allies decided that NATO would assume a greater role in co-ordinating arms supplies to Ukraine, taking over from the United States in a bid to safeguard the process as NATO-sceptic Donald Trump seeks a second term as U.S. president.
NATO's official line is that Ukraine will join one day, but not while the country is at war. "Ukraine's future is in NATO," its leaders declared at last year's Vilnius summit.
Some allies want this language to be strengthened, suggesting the summit declare that Ukraine's path to membership is "irreversible", according to diplomats.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
