Special Representative – NATO expands its presence in Kiev

The background is mainly that NATO wants to launch a new operation at next week’s summit in Washington to coordinate arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces. The headquarters for this will be located in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is still unclear who this special representative will be. It is said that further details will be communicated after the official selection.

The military alliance has had an official representation in Kyiv for almost a decade, which also operates a liaison office and an information and documentation centre that has existed since the late 1990s. Among other things, it maintains contacts with Ukrainian ministries and authorities and is intended to promote political dialogue and practical cooperation within NATO. It also advises authorities on activities in support of the NATO-Ukraine partnership and reforms in the security and defence sector. This too will need to be further staffed in the future.

Precautions for a Possible Trump Presidency
The United States has so far taken the lead in coordinating arms deliveries and training activities that NATO intends to undertake in the future. The NATO project is also seen as a precaution in the event that Donald Trump returns to the US presidency from January 2025. Statements by the Republican in the past had raised doubts about whether the US would continue to wage a defensive war against Ukraine under pressure from the crisis. its leadership against Russia as before.