The foreign ministers of the member countries of NATO will take stock of the bilateral and military assistance they are providing to Ukraine at a time when the Ukrainian army is running out of ammunition to counter Russian military aggression.
The Swedish Minister will take part in the discussions for the first time as a full member since Sweden officially became the Alliance’s 32nd member country . This new membership came as NATO celebrated, on Thursday 4 April, the 75th anniversary of the signing of its treaty by the 12 founding countries.
As far as military aid to Ukraine is concerned, European ministers can pride themselves on having been able to approve, in mid-March, the creation of a €5 billion ‘Ukraine Assistance Fund’ within the ‘European Peace Facility’ . This fund will be used to finance the EU’s European Union Military Assistance Mission Ukraine (EUMAM) mission to Ukraine and to reimburse deliveries from stocks and individual purchases, as well as deliveries based on joint European purchases.
On Tuesday 2 April, Germany announced that it would contribute €576 million to the purchase of ammunition from third countries as part of an initiative taken by the Czech Republic, according to AFP.
As for the US, its ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, assured the press that the Biden administration was still expecting an agreement in Congress on new deliveries of US arms to Kyiv. She emphasised her hope that this would happen “as soon as possible”, believing that the continuation of Allied aid was “critical” if Ukraine was to be able to defend its territory.
On the fringes of the ministerial meeting, discussions are also expected to focus on the selection of Jens Stoltenberg’s successor, a decision that needs to be taken “at the latest […] by the Washington summit” next July, according to Ms Smith. “We fully back [outgoing Dutch Prime Minister] Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General” of NATO, she stated, while praising the qualities of the other officially declared candidate, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis .
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was once tipped to join the race, but on Tuesday she publicly declared her support for Mr Rutte on the platform X. She advocated a clear-sighted NATO vis-à-vis Russia, which would strengthen deterrence and military spending and support Ukraine’s accession.
