NATO prepares to approve funding for Ukraine by allies on two fronts
NATO leaders are preparing to approve a decision to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP – part of this spending will be allowed to be directed towards supporting Ukraine, which could significantly strengthen the defence capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Source: article by European Pravda
Details: The new spending target is expected to be divided as follows: 3.5% of GDP for direct military needs, and another 1.5% for broader security projects, including infrastructure.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, responding to a question from European Pravda before the start of the ministerial meeting on 4 June, said that the increase in spending would not negatively affect support for Ukraine.
"It would be strange and not wise if in NATO we would make decisions on spending more and then doing it in such a way that it would somehow work against Ukraine getting what it needs going forward to stay in the fight… We will design the new investment plan in such a way that it will not impact the way our allies are working with Ukraine to make sure that you have what you need to stay in the fight," Rutte said.
NATO already counts part of its assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces as "hard security" spending, such as the purchase of equipment.
This approach will continue, and the summit in The Hague will likely also officially allow countries to count Ukrainian assistance as part of the 1.5% "soft security" component.
In particular, Rutte informed the governments of the allies about this in a closed letter, in which he presented them with an outline of a draft decision to increase defence spending.
This letter caused disagreement among the allies – some argued that all aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces should now be transferred from the "hard" block to the "soft" one.
European Pravda's sources said that Ukraine actively persuaded its allies not to limit the accounting of aid to only the "soft" part, since 3.5% of GDP is a significantly larger resource.
Currently, the consensus within NATO is to allow member countries to flexibly determine which category to classify their aid to Ukraine under, depending on its nature.
A senior official involved in developing the Alliance's new goals explained to journalists in Brussels that they wanted to give their allies maximum flexibility in terms of which component they included in their aid to Ukraine.
He added that this distribution would depend on the type of aid, as not everything provided to Ukraine could be classified as military support.
Background:
On 5 June, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that NATO members would support US President Donald Trump's demand for a significant increase in defence spending ahead of the summit in The Hague.
It is privately known that Spain is the last major NATO country that has not yet joined the Alliance's plan to announce its intention to spend 5% of GDP on defence.
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