NATO defense ministers thrash out new security aid and training support plan for Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers met Thursday in hopes of agreeing on a new plan to provide long-term security assistance and military training to Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion, after Hungary promised not to veto the proposal, as long as it is 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 Russian troops launch attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, taking advantage of a long delay in U.S. 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 met as part of the Pentagon-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group to raise arms and ammunition for Kiev. A new meeting was held at NATO headquarters on Thursday.

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said his country would send 2,300 rocket engines to Ukraine and that a further 80,000 devices were being tested. “Pending the results of these tests, we intend to send more packages of these engines to our Ukrainian partners in the future,” he told reporters.

Although contact group 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 its members provide aid 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.