BRUSSELS (AP) – NATO 2 newest memberFinland and Sweden announced on Wednesday that they would buy more weapons from the United States to give to Ukraine, a day after data showed that: foreign military aid Visits to the war-torn country have sharply declined in recent months.
During the summer, NATO began coordinating regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine. russian war. The goal was to send targeted and predictable military assistance at least once a month, worth about $500 million each.
Reserve weapons stocks in European arsenals are nearly depleted, and NATO diplomats said the United States has about $10 billion to $12 billion worth of weapons, air defense systems and ammunition that Ukraine could use.
under financial arrangements — known as the Priority Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) — European allies and Canada are buying U.S. weapons to help Kiev keep Russian forces at bay. The equivalent of about $2 billion has already been allocated.
Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said that his country “decided to join PURL because we consider it extremely important that Ukraine has access to important US weapons.” Finland also plans to offer another package of its own military equipment.
“Sweden is ready to do even more,” Swedish Defense Minister Poul Jonsson said. He also welcomed discussions about sending additional shipments between other Nordic countries and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
“This is really important right now because we’ve been on the wrong track with support to Ukraine. It’s been low and we want more,” Johnson told reporters at NATO headquarters, where defense ministers were meeting.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur also expressed concern about the decline in Western support, noting that “the reality is that the proportion of US contributions to Ukraine has decreased significantly this year.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the United States “expects today that more countries will contribute more and purchase more goods to prepare Ukraine for a peaceful end to the conflict.”
The Trump administration has not donated military equipment to Ukraine. I’m considering whether send tomahawk Long-range missiles will be developed if Russia does not wind down the war soon, but it remains unclear who will pay for those weapons if they are approved.
Indeed, new data on Western military aid to Ukraine shows that despite the PURL program, aid plunged 43% in July and August compared to the first half of this year, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks deliveries and funding to Kiev.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte saw no problem. Asked if he was worried about declining support for Ukraine, he said: “I’m not. If you look at this year, it’s more or less on average with last year.”
Following mounting criticism that France, Italy and Spain are not doing enough to help Ukraine, Häkkanen called on all 32 NATO allies to shoulder their “fair share”, saying: “This is a critical moment and everyone must find the funds.”
France and Italy are deep in debt and struggling to raise funds just to meet NATO demands. defense spending target. Spain cites other economic concerns and says it will make up for shortfalls in NATO spending by sending troops on alliance missions.
France also believes that European funds should be spent on European defense industries, not the United States, and has no intention of joining PURL.
___
Follow AP’s war coverage. https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
