NATO’s newest members offer to buy more US arms for Ukraine as Western backing declines

Brussels: NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, said Wednesday that they would buy more weapons from the United States to give to Ukraine, a day after data showed that foreign military aid to the war-torn country had declined sharply in recent months.

Over the summer, NATO started to coordinate regular deliveries of large weapons packages to Ukraine to help fend off Russia’s war. The aim was to send at least one load a month of targeted and predictable military support, each worth around USD 500 million.

Spare weapons stocks in European arsenals have all but dried up, and NATO diplomats have said that the United States has around USD 10-USD 12 billion worth of arms, air defence systems and ammunition that Ukraine could use.

Under the financial arrangement, European allies and Canada are buying American weapons to help Kyiv keep Russian forces at bay. About USD 2 billion worth has already been allocated.

Finland’s defence minister, Antti Häkkänen, said that his country has “decided to join the PURL, because we see that it’s crucial that Ukraine gets the critical US weapons.”