NATO defence ministers thrash out new security aid for Ukraine

Brussels: NATO defence ministers gathered on Thursday hoping to agree on a new plan to provide long-term security assistance and military training to Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion, after Hungary promised not to veto the proposal as long as it’s not forced to take part.

The ministers are meeting over two days at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the last high-level talks before a summit hosted by US President Joe Biden in Washington on July 9-11, where the military organisation’s leaders are expected to announce financial support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to bolster their military support as

Russian troops launch attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, taking advantage of a lengthy delay in US military aid. European Union money was also held up by political infighting.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is chairing Thursday’s meeting, said that Ukraine’s beleaguered armed forces need longer-term predictability about the kinds of weapons, ammunition and funds they can expect to receive.

“The whole idea is to minimise the risk for gaps and delays as we saw earlier this year,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

The hold-up, he said, “is one of the reasons why the Russians are now able to push and to actually occupy more land in Ukraine”.

Since Russia’s full-fledged invasion in February 2022, Ukraine’s Western backers have routinely met as part of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, run by the Pentagon, to drum up weapons and ammunition for Kyiv. A fresh meeting was held at NATO headquarters on Thursday.

Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said that his country would send Ukraine 2,300 rocket motors, and that 80,000 more of the devices are being tested. “Pending the results of those tests, we intend to ship more packages of these motors to our Ukrainian partners in the future,” he told reporters.