NATO members are hoping to pledge €70 billion ($80 billion) in military aid to Ukraine for 2026 and “at least equivalent levels” of support in 2027, when they meet at an upcoming summit in Turkey on July 6 and 7.
The funding pledge was revealed in a released text of the summit’s declaration, which was approved by the ambassadors of all NATO’s 32 members, including the United States.
It would still need final approval from the leaders at the event in Ankara.
According to Reuters, the summit declaration text will seek to reaffirm an “ironclad commitment to our collective defence under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and to the transatlantic bond.”
“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the summit text read.
Russia named ‘a long-term threat’
NATO’s financial pledge includes €30 billion each year from an EU loan and funds already committed by individual countries, diplomats told AFP.
European NATO members and Canada will provide the majority of the funding.
The move comes in response to declining support to provide aid to Ukraine by US President Donald Trump, with Kyiv’s European allies signaling a readiness to take over the financing of Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
The summit’s declaration will declare Russia as “a long-term threat” to “Euro-Atlantic security and stability,” while saying that NATO’s European members and Canada are delivering on their commitment at last year’s summit in The Hague to increase defense spending.
NATO countries wrote in the summit text that they “are building the future: a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be present at the summit in Ankara.
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Merz hits back at Trump over budget
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday pushed back on fresh criticism by US President Donald Trump, who described European NATO allies’ defense spending budgets as “ridiculous.”
Trump singled Germany out in particular.
“The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing,” Trump wrote in a social media post, spelling out the alleged amounts each country spend and saying Germany’s contribution was “much lower” than the others.
Following a meeting with Baltic heads of state and government, Merz insisted that his country is in the process of doubling its defense budget within four years.
“This is the greatest effort we have ever made to strengthen our defense capabilities. In that respect, we have nothing to be ashamed of,” Merz said.
Merz said he plans to speak about the topic with Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
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