NATO pledges £35bn military aid to Ukraine ahead of summit
NATO states agreed to allocate £35 billion for military aid to Ukraine next year, said a Western European diplomat to Reuters on Wednesday, a week before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington, D.C.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asked member states to maintain military aid to Ukraine at the same level as in previous years since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This amounts to approximately £35 billion annually.
NATO makes a key decision before the summit
NATO leaders will sign the commitment next week in the US capital.
Seventy-five years ago, 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C., to ensure collective defence in an unpredictable world. This year, 32 NATO allies will meet again in Washington, D.C., to make key decisions on how to continue protecting one billion of their citizens.
At the meeting next week, NATO leaders will discuss a wide range of issues facing the Alliance and ensure that NATO remains ready to respond to any challenge.
- At the summit in Washington, D.C., we will once again demonstrate NATO's unity and strength by supporting Ukraine and taking care of the security of all our people and values - said Stoltenberg earlier.
Poland wants to strengthen the eastern flank
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Radio Zet that at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., the Polish delegation would seek to establish a NATO unit in Bydgoszcz and strengthen the eastern flank. He emphasised that Poland is going to the summit as a model for defence spending.
Sikorski noted that we currently have 12,000 foreign soldiers, we are building the "Tusk Shield," and we need to strengthen our air and missile defence. He clarified that it is the East Shield.
The East Shield programme is to be implemented in 2024-28, with a budget of £2 billion. It includes preparations for defending border areas by increasing so-called surprise resistance capabilities, including building a detection, warning, and tracking system based on networks of base stations, forward operating bases (logistics hubs), networks of bunkers/shelters for striking systems, and developing infrastructure for anti-drone systems.
