NATO allies have committed over €20 billion ($21.65B) in military aid to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2025, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from the alliance meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss further support for Ukraine against Russia’s three-year-old invasion. Speaking ahead of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Rutte also said that the NATO command in the German city of Wiesbaden – the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) – would continue to coordinate military aid to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian soldiers.
The announcement comes amid fears that U.S. support for Ukraine could be drastically reduced as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump tries to force a peace deal while calling on European allies to step up defence spending.
Following a disastrous meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Washington temporarily suspended military and intelligence support to Kyiv, but has since resumed aid.
Last year, NATO allies provided security assistance worth about €50 billion for Ukraine.
Rutte commended Trump “for breaking the deadlock” in the war launched by Russia in February 2022.
But he stressed that despite allies’ continued commitment to Ukraine, “the threat we face from Russia remains.”
NATO foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss bolstering the alliance’s defence capabilities.
The Trump administration has repeatedly urged European allies to increase defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) – more than double the current NATO target of a minimum of 2% of GDP.
Rutte, signalling that a decision on raising defence expenditure would likely be made at the next NATO summit in June, reiterated that allies would have to raise spending to “considerably north of 3%.”
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