Brussels (agencies)
NATO sources said yesterday that NATO member states have agreed to a plan that includes security assistance and a training mission for Ukraine.
The mission, under the name “NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine” (NSATO), includes providing Ukraine with military assistance under the formal NATO structure for the first time, as part of a broader proposal, still under research, to present a long-term commitment to support Ukraine.
The agreement reached yesterday does not include any specific financial obligations.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a meeting of alliance foreign ministers in Prague last month that he wanted allies to “commit to a multi-year financial commitment to Ukraine” worth 40 billion euros ($43 billion) annually.
Rustam Umarov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, is participating in the meeting with NATO defense ministers as part of a coordination body known as the NATO-Ukraine Council.
On the other hand, a senior NATO official confirmed yesterday that member states “smoothly exceeded” the goal of putting 300,000 soldiers on high alert.
It is noteworthy that NATO leaders agreed in 2022 to significantly increase the number of forces that can be deployed within 30 days.
The push to put more forces on high alert is part of a broader reform adopted at a NATO summit last year to ward off any potential attack.
The plans set out for the first time since the end of the Cold War what each member of the US-led alliance is expected to do in the event of war.
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