NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asks the member states of the Alliance to annually allocate €500 million to finance a comprehensive aid package to Ukraine. A plan for long-term support of Ukraine is currently being discussed there.
Bloomberg writes about this with reference to sources.
Stoltenberg wants NATO countries to increase their contributions to the fund of the comprehensive package of aid to Ukraine. This package includes both short-term assistance, such as fuel, ammunition and anti-drone systems, as well as long-term support for Ukraine to fully modernize the Ukrainian army to NATO standards.
First of all, the money will go to non-lethal weapons. However, if we take into account that the stockpiles of Soviet-style weapons in the world are running out, then when switching to NATO standards, this may automatically open up the possibility of supplying lethal modern weapons.
According to Stoltenberg, this will help Ukraine modernize the army and move to NATO standards.
- On September 30, after Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, the President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for Ukraineʼs accelerated accession to NATO.
- The USA responded that Ukraineʼs accession to NATO is not timely. The Alliance said that the decision will be made by consensus of all 30 members. Canada, on the contrary, supported Ukraine in the Alliance. The President of Bulgaria opposed.
- The adviser to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Mykhailo Podolyak informed that Ukraine held a series of consultations with NATO and the UN before submitting the application. Politico wrote that this was a surprise for the US.
- On October 2, the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia issued a joint statement in which they supported Ukraine in NATO and condemned the annexation of Ukrainian territories.