Proposal for a billion-dollar fund
Stoltenberg wants to expand NATO’s role in Ukraine support
April 3, 2024, 12:09 a.m
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The Ukrainian armed forces rely on weapons, but also on military help in the form of trainers. The USA is currently coordinating the relevant support. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg is now proposing a change of course.
According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO should have a significantly larger role in supporting Ukraine. As several diplomats confirmed, the Norwegian suggested, among other things, setting up a special NATO mission for the country attacked by Russia.
He also wants to persuade the alliance partners to promise Ukraine military support worth 100 billion euros over the next five years. According to information, discussions on the proposals are currently underway in the defense alliance. Final decisions are to be made at the alliance summit in July in Washington.
The core task of the “NATO Mission Ukraine” would, if approved by the member states, be the coordination of arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces. The USA is currently responsible for this coordination. They regularly organize meetings at their air force base in Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate or, for example, in Brussels.
Stoltenberg’s idea was to communalize support for Ukraine in order to make it less dependent on political developments in individual alliance states, it was said. This is particularly true given the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House as president. This raises the concern that the Republican could then significantly reduce or even stop US support for Ukraine. It was emphasized that it was not about deploying NATO troops in Ukraine. Fairer sharing of burdens
Details are still unclear
Details of the proposal for the 100 billion euro package initially remained open. In particular, the question of whether support commitments already made by individual states should be included or not remained unanswered. Diplomats said Stoltenberg’s move was also about more equitable sharing of the burden of supporting Ukraine. It is currently the case that eastern allies and countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the USA make significantly higher contributions in relation to their economic power than countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Another idea from Stoltenberg is reportedly to create a NATO framework for bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. However, details on this point initially remained unclear.
A NATO spokesman did not want to comment on the substance of the proposals on Tuesday evening. He simply said that the foreign ministers’ meeting this Wednesday and Thursday should discuss how NATO’s support for Ukraine can be made more effective, predictable and lasting. But there will be no final decisions for now. The talks are also considered difficult because of the federal government’s positioning. In the past, the Chancellery in particular has repeatedly expressed its opposition to proposals that would see NATO become more involved in supporting Ukraine. This was mainly justified by concerns about an escalation and expansion of the war in Ukraine into NATO territory. To date, for example, NATO itself has not supplied any lethal weapons to Ukraine.