NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has proposed a five-year, 100 billion-euro military aid package for Ukraine, allowing the military alliance to play a more direct role in supporting Kyiv, Emerging Europe reports.
Under the plan, diplomats said, NATO, which celebrated its 75th anniversary on Thursday, would take over some of the coordination functions of the US-led ad hoc coalition known as the Ramstein Group. The adoption of the plan was a necessary measure to protect Kyiv from any reduction in US support should Donald Trump take office.
The proposal is expected to be finalised in time for the July NATO summit in Washington.
So far, NATO as an organisation has so far been limited to providing non-lethal assistance to Ukraine over concerns that a more direct role could provoke an escalation of tensions with Russia. Most of the organisation’s members provide weapons to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attended a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council. He thanked the allies for agreeing to begin identifying Patriot missile battery stocks that could be sent to Ukraine. The Patriot “is the only system that effectively intercepts ballistic missiles,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking before meeting with Kuleba, said that “support for Ukraine, the determination of every country represented here at NATO, remains rock solid.”
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law lowering the mobilisation age for combat from 27 to 25, which should help Ukraine increase its combat power in its war.
The move expands the number of civilians the army can mobilise into its ranks to fight under martial law, which has been in force since the start of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022.
The bill has been on Zelensky’s desk since it was approved by lawmakers in May 2023, and it was not immediately clear what prompted him to sign it. The Ukrainian parliament has been debating a separate bill for months that would significantly tighten conscription rules.
Today, Ukraine wants a seat at the NATO table, but the alliance operates on a unanimity basis, and there is no consensus on whether it should join. Most allies oppose membership while the war continues anyway. So far, NATO has promised only that its doors will be open to Ukraine in the future.
