NATO Discusses Providing Ukraine with €70 Billion in Military Assistance

NATO countries are discussing an initiative to provide Ukraine with €70 billion in military assistance. It could be announced during the alliance leaders' summit in Ankara in July, TASS reports, citing Politico.

Only €40 billion of the total amount will be new funding commitments. The remaining €30 billion is part of the EU's €90 billion aid package. "This is natural, because most NATO allies are also EU members. It would be unfair to ask them to provide assistance twice," one of the publication's sources said.

The initiative was put forward by the German government in May. It calls for the creation of new mechanisms to increase transparency regarding each country's contribution. As the publication explains, some European countries have previously complained that they bear a disproportionate burden of supporting Kyiv.

According to the publication, support for Ukraine could be a key topic at the NATO leaders' summit, scheduled for July 7-8. "Discussions are underway on how we can continue NATO's strong support for Ukraine while ensuring fair burden sharing," an alliance spokesperson told the publication.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte proposed that member states regularly allocate 0.25% of their GDP to support Ukraine, but this idea was rejected. The organization is now focusing on the German initiative. The publication's sources said the discussions are in the early stages, but indicated that an agreement could be reached soon – at a meeting of defense ministers later in June.