NATO debates plan to provide additional long-term military support to Ukraine and urges US Congress to approve additional funding for Ukraine.
As better-armed Russian troops take control of the battlefield, NATO is debating a plan to provide more predictable military support to Ukraine in the coming years.
“We firmly believe that support for Ukraine should be less dependent on short-term voluntary offers and more dependent on long-term commitments from the NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before chairing a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels.
On Wednesday, April 3, Ukraine lowered its military draft age from 27 to 25 to help replenish its depleted ranks after more than two years of war. A shortage of infantry combined with a severe shortage of ammunition helped give the initiative to Russian troops.
Stoltenberg said a formal “institutional framework” is needed as the war drags on and that NATO can provide it.
“The reason we do this is the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. It is severe“, Stoltenberg told reporters. “We see how Russia is pushing and how they try to win this war just by waiting for us to leave.”
NATO is committed to doing more for Ukraine, but its members are not prepared to offer the country its last security guarantee: membership. Nor do they want to be drawn into a wider war with a nuclear-armed military power like Russia.
Under the new plan, which is expected to be approved by US President Joe Biden and his counterparts at their upcoming summit in Washington in July, NATO would coordinate efforts to support Ukraine’s military side while assessing Ukraine’s needs. , collecting promises and holding meetings.
David Cameron echoes NATO call
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron called on all NATO members to meet their commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defense. The statement was made on April 3, upon arriving at a NATO event in Brussels: “The most important thing we can do to ensure this alliance continues to grow and strengthen is to ensure that we all spendIt isWe spend more than two percent of our GDP on defense”.
“Many countries are doing this now, but we need all countries to do so. Frankly, this is the best thing we can do to ensure that I meet from the NATO in Washington this summer is a success and is also the best way to prepare for the US elections in the autumn, whatever the outcome.”, continued the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The comments were seen as an attempt to keep Donald Trump as an ally, given that the US presidential candidate has been a critic of NATO members who are not meeting spending commitments.
The Washington conference referred to by Cameron will take place on July 9-11, a week before the Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to be chosen as the party’s presidential candidate.
