Within the anniversary meeting At the summit in Washington, NATO will offer Ukraine a new headquarters to manage its military aid, reports the American newspaper The New York Times, citing officials, as quoted by Focus.
The initiative will represent a long-term commitment of the Alliance to the security of the country. The agreement will be called a "bridge” to the possible membership of Kiev in NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped that NATO would offer his country membership talks at the July 9-11 summit. Instead, the alliance will announce that it has agreed to establish a mission in Germany to coordinate all types of long-term aid to Ukraine, US and NATO officials said. The move should send a powerful signal of allied commitment to both Kiev and Moscow, which hopes the West will tire of supporting the Ukrainians.
Since the mission will be under the auspices of NATO, it is planned to be launched and maintained even if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November.
The administration of current US President Joe Biden and NATO officials raised the idea as a way to give Kiev something serious at the summit, even if now is not the time to talk about Ukraine joining the alliance.
It is not just that the country is still at war, which could make NATO an active participant in the fighting. Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that Ukraine must undertake important reforms to reduce corruption and improve democracy and the rule of law.
The NYT notes that the new mission and the commitments it represents will likely satisfy Zelensky. Because a year ago in Vilnius, he clearly expressed his displeasure when Ukraine was not offered a clear timetable for membership negotiations.
The new mission will bring together the current "coalition of capabilities” of countries that provide various aspects of military assistance to Ukraine, such as air defense, artillery, F-16 fighter jets, weapons and training.
She will also coordinate the training of Ukrainian military personnel in allied countries and long-term bilateral security agreements that various countries have signed with Ukraine, according to US and NATO sources.
All NATO countries support the creation of the mission, officials assured. Its launch will be announced at the summit.
Previously, aid to Ukraine was mostly provided individually by each country. Officials briefed on the plan said consolidating key support and training areas under one command is intended to streamline the flow and make it more consistent.
The mission, called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), will work to reduce duplication and complications related to the different types of weapons being sent to Ukraine.
The mission will be based at a US military base in Wiesbaden, Germany, led by a general - possibly American - who will report directly to NATO's supreme commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli.
Putting the mission under General Cavoli would protect it from any political changes in Washington, said Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO who was also briefed on the plan.
The new mission will also include an existing US team stationed in Wiesbaden to handle weapons supplies and personnel training. It will work alongside the US-led Defense Contact Group for Ukraine, which coordinates arms transfers from around 50 countries to Ukraine, not just the 32 NATO members. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who created the contact group, insisted that it remain under US chairmanship for the time being.
The group will not be officially called "mission” because of objections from Germany, which wants to avoid the impression that it and NATO are at war with Russia, Daalder explains.
"This is an attempt to defend against Trump and a conscious attempt to bring Ukraine and NATO together to support the country today and also in the future,” he adds.
The Biden administration has not publicly commented on details of the plan. But Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said the summit would show allies taking "concrete steps” to bring Ukraine closer together and provide it with a "bridge to possible membership”.
Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing NATO secretary general, has been vague about the plan for the new mission. He described it as a "key outcome of the summit” and the next step "on Ukraine's path to NATO membership". In his words, "these efforts do not make NATO a party to the conflict, but they will strengthen our support for Ukraine in defending its right to self-defense.