NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, has proposed to allied countries to create a fund of 100 billion dollars of military aid to Ukraine for the next five years. An initiative that has the double objective of giving predictability to the Government of Volodymyr Zelensky so that it can plan new offensives against Russia, as well as protect kyiv against a possible victory of donald trump in the November elections in the United States.
Stoltenberg further states that the Atlantic Alliance take into your bosom the coordination of arms shipment to Ukraine. It would be about replace the role now played by the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine (also called Rammstein format), which is led by Washington. In this way, he intends to ensure that this coordination is maintained even if Trump decides to disengage from kyiv, as he has suggested during the campaign.
Stoltenberg's plan was discussed for the first time at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers held this Wednesday in Brussels. But its final adoption is not expected until summit of the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance, which will be held in July in Washington. Among the most skeptical are countries like Hungary or Turkey, which fear greater involvement of the Atlantic Alliance in the war.
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“We need to change the dynamics of our support. We must guarantee security assistance reliable and predictable for Ukraine in the long term. To rely less on voluntary contributions and more on NATO commitments: fewer short-term offers and more multi-year promises,” Stoltenberg argued.
“Ministers will discuss how NATO could assume greater responsibility in coordination of military equipment and training for Ukraine, anchoring it within the solid framework of NATO. We will also discuss a multi-year financial commitment to maintain our support,” explains the Secretary General of the Alliance.
“NATO allies provide 99% of all military support to Ukraine. Therefore, doing more within the NATO framework would make our efforts more efficient and effective. Moscow has to realize that it will not be able to achieve its goals on the battlefield and can't wait for us to get tired,” concluded Stoltenberg.
The Secretary General of NATO has avoided confirming the figure of 100 billion dollars as the endowment of this military fund for Ukraine, which has been advanced by the large international agencies. “What is clear is that we need more money and new money for Ukraineand we need it for many years,” he simply replied when asked about this amount.
Stoltenberg's main argument for creating this fund is the situation on the battlefield. “We are seeing a constant military buildup by Russia, we see how They are receiving weapons and ammunition from Iran and North Korea“We see how Moscow has moved into a war economy and is willing to pay a very high price in men and material to achieve progress in Ukraine, without any respect for human life,” he explains.
At the same time, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance has recognized that the blockade in the United Stateswhere Trump's allies in Congress have blocked a $60 billion package for Ukraine, is also an important factor in his initiative.
“The fact that there is no agreement in the US Congress has consequences. “It is one of the reasons why the Ukrainians have to ration the number of artillery shells and have problems resisting the Russian forces,” Stoltenberg said.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albareshas said that Spain defends “predictability” in aid to Ukraine, but has avoided explicitly supporting the 100 billion fund proposed by Stoltenberg.
“We can appreciate it, of course. But what we should not do in any case is duplicate efforts. We should not bilaterally duplicate what can be done better together in the European Union and there is no need to duplicate in NATO what the EU does“, he pointed out.
