BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers met Thursday in hopes of reaching agreement on a new plan to provide long-term security assistance and military training to Ukraineafter Hungary promised do not veto the scheme, as long as you are not forced to participate.
Ministers meet for two days at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the last high-level talks before a summit organized by US President Joe Biden in Washington from 9 to 11 July, where they are expected to leaders of the military organization announce financial support for Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to bolster their military support as they Russian troops launch attacks along the front line of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), taking advantage of a long delay in US military aid. European Union money has also been held up by political infighting.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who chairs Thursday’s meeting, said Ukraine’s beleaguered armed forces need long-term predictability about the types of weapons, ammunition and funds they can expect to receive.
“The idea is to minimize the risk of gaps and delays, as we saw earlier this year,” Stoltenberg told reporters. The delay, he said, “is one of the reasons why the Russians are now able to pressure and de facto occupy more land in Ukraine.”
Since Russia’s full invasion in February 2022, Western supporters of Ukraine have routinely gathered as part of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, directed by the Pentagon, to raise weapons and ammunition for Kiev. A new meeting was held at NATO headquarters on Thursday.
Although these meetings resulted in significant battlefield support, they were ad hoc and unpredictable in nature. Stoltenberg led an effort for NATO to pick up some of the slack.
The idea is for the 32-nation military alliance to coordinate the security assistance and training process, in part using NATO’s command structure and using funds from its common budget.
Stoltenberg said he hopes Biden and his counterparts will agree in Washington to maintain the level of funding for the military support they have provided to Ukraine since Russia launched its full invasion in February 2022.
He estimates this at around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) worth of equipment each year.
On Wednesday, Hungary announced that it would not veto the plan as long as it was not forced to participate.
“I asked the Secretary-General to make it clear that all military actions outside NATO territory can only be of a voluntary nature, in accordance with NATO rules and our traditions,” said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “Hungary has received the guarantees we need.”
The world’s largest security alliance does not send weapons or ammunition to Ukraine as an organization and has no plans to put troops on the ground. But many of your members give help on a bilateral basis and together provide more than 90% of the country’s military support.
The other 31 allies see Russia’s war against Ukraine as an existential threat to Europe’s security, but most of them, including Biden, have been extremely cautious to ensure that NATO is not drawn into a broader conflict with Russia.
NATO operates on the basis that an attack on any single ally will receive a response from all of them.
