According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO should play a significantly greater role in supporting Ukraine. According to the idea of the outgoing alliance leader, a special mission for Ukraine should be launched.
Several diplomats from the German news agency confirmed the plan on Tuesday. Stoltenberg believes that Ukraine’s allies should also pledge military support worth 100 billion euros over the next five years.
According to information, discussions about the proposals are currently underway in the defense alliance. Final decisions will be made at the alliance summit in Washington in July, the report said. The core task of the “NATO Mission Ukraine”, if approved by member states, would be to coordinate arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Trump the boogeyman
The US is currently responsible for this coordination. They regularly organize meetings at their air base in Ramstein, Germany or, for example, in Brussels.
Stoltenberg’s idea was to unify support for Ukraine to make the country less dependent on political developments in individual alliance states, it was said. This is especially true given Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House as president.
This raises concerns that Republicans could then significantly reduce or even end US support for Ukraine. It was emphasized that it was not about deploying NATO troops in Ukraine.
Imbalance in financial support
Details of the proposal for the €100 billion package initially remained open. In particular, the question of whether the support commitments already made by individual states should be included remained unanswered. Diplomats said Stoltenberg’s move was also about fairer sharing of the burden of supporting Ukraine.
Currently, eastern allies and countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the US make significantly higher contributions relative to their economic power than countries such as France, Italy and Spain.
Another of Stoltenberg’s ideas is to create a NATO framework for bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. However, details on this point initially remained unclear. Several NATO states such as Germany, France, Italy and Britain have already signed their own security agreements with the attacked country.
Berlin as a brakeman
A NATO spokesperson declined to comment on the content of the proposals on Tuesday evening. He simply said that the meeting of foreign ministers next Wednesday and Thursday should discuss how to make NATO support to Ukraine more effective, predictable and sustainable. However, no final decisions will be made yet.
The talks are also experienced as difficult because of the positioning of the German federal government. In the past, the Chancellery in particular has repeatedly expressed its opposition to proposals that would lead to NATO becoming 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 Ukraine with lethal weapons.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
