NATO leaders plan to pledge next week to keep pouring arms and ammunition into Ukraine at current levels for at least another year, hoping to reassure the war-ravaged country of their ongoing support and show Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will not walk away.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington for a three-day summit beginning Tuesday to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russian troops press their advantage along Ukraine’s eastern front in the third year of the war.

Speaking to reporters Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO's 32 member countries have been spending around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) each year on military equipment for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and that this should be “a minimum baseline” going forward.

“I expect allies will decide at the summit to sustain this level within the next year,” Stoltenberg said. He said the amount would be shared among nations based on their economic growth and that the leaders will review the figure when they meet again in 2025.

NATO is desperate to do more for Ukraine but is struggling to find new ways. Already, NATO allies provide 99% of the military support it gets. Soon, the alliance will manage equipment deliveries. But two red lines remain: no NATO membership until the war is over, and no NATO boots on the ground there.

At their last summit, NATO leaders agreed to fast-track Ukraine’s membership process — although the country is unlikely to join for many years — and set up a high-level body for emergency consultations. Several countries promised more military equipment.

A year on, they want to put on a fresh display of unity and resolve, even as uncertainty over elections roils many of the organization's biggest members. The possible return of Donald Trump, who undermined trust among the allies while he was the U.S. president, is a particular concern.

But governments in France and Germany also were weakened in elections this year. Italy is led by a prime minister whose party has neo-fascist roots, while an anti-immigrant party heads a shaky coalition in the Netherlands and Spain’s Cabinet relies on small parties to rule. The U.K. will have a new leader.

Whoever might be in power though, it’s become clear that there’s not a lot more that NATO can do.

Lately, Stoltenberg has insisted on a long-term commitment to Ukraine. Major funding delays, notably due to political wrangling in the U.S. Congress, have left the country’s armed forces, in his words, “to defend themselves with one hand tied on the back.”

He had hoped the allies would agree to spend at least 40 billion euros annually on weapons in a “major, multi-year” program. It does not mean an increase in support, though. The figure roughly equals what they have already spent each year since the war began.

One new initiative the leaders are likely to endorse is a mission to get the right military equipment into Ukraine and streamline training for its armed forces. In their haste to help, Western backers have inundated Ukraine with all kinds of weapons and materiel.

In the early chaos of war, anything was welcome, but the deliveries have become unmanageable — a multitude of different kinds of vehicles or defense systems that require distinct maintenance plans and dedicated supply chains to keep them running.

Offers of training programs outside Ukraine have also been abundant, indeed so prolific and different that its armed forces struggle to prioritize which troops to send, to what NATO country, and for how long.

“We’ve let a thousand flowers bloom,” conceded a senior U.S. State Department official, but added that with a new mission, probably based in Wiesbaden, Germany, and under the likely leadership of a U.S. general, “NATO can come in and say: We’ve got it.”

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The official requested anonymity to discuss plans that had not been finalized.

Sending military equipment via this new mission would also prevent rogue governments or leaders from meddling with joint deliveries. NATO officials say the mission would complement the U.S.-led effort to drum up arms, the so-called Ramstein group.

The U.S. will announce new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, according to a senior Biden administration official.

The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, declined to detail the air defense capabilities that would be sent. But the administration signaled last month that the U.S. will rush delivery of air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations.

The official said members of the NATO-Ukraine Council would meet Thursday at the summit. Later that day, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will host an event with leaders from nearly two dozen other nations who have negotiated and signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.

A conundrum for NATO leaders is how to frame Ukraine’s membership prospects without letting it join. Many allies refuse to allow Ukraine in while fighting continues, concerned about being dragged into a wider war with Russia. Hungary opposes Ukraine’s membership altogether.

In the run-up to the summit, NATO envoys have been weighing the use of words such as “irreversible” to describe Ukraine’s path to membership as they tweak language that has shifted constantly since they promised in 2008 that the country would join one day.

It’s unclear how this will be accepted in Kyiv. At their last meeting, the leaders were noncommittal about timing, saying only that they would be “in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Zelenskyy described it as “unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.” He complained that “vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”

In recent weeks, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have been briefed on developments to avoid a repeat of the criticism. Stoltenberg said he and Zelenskyy agreed earlier this month that the new steps the leaders will take “constitute a bridge to NATO membership and a very strong package for Ukraine at the summit."

Membership would protect Ukraine against a giant neighbor that annexed its Crimean Peninsula a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Before then, Kyiv must reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption.

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NATO chief announces €40bn military aid plan for Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed the alliance is to provide Ukraine with military aid worth €40 billion ($43 billion) in 2025 in a press conference on Friday.

The secretary general said allies have agreed to sustain this financial pledge next year as a "minimum baseline" to meet Ukraine's needs in the defence against the Russian invasion.

NATO leaders are meeting in Washington next week to celebrate the alliance's 75th anniversary and send a strong message of support to Ukraine.

The €40 billion pledge however is not the multi-year financial commitment to support Ukraine that Stoltenberg wanted allies to agree on. The alliance will also review the military aid next year.

The multi-year financial pledge was part of the secretary general's attempt to shore up the alliance's support for Ukraine in the event that Donald Trump returns to the US presidency in January 2025.

The United States is the major military power in NATO and is the alliance's highest defence spender. Trump however has repeatedly made sceptical remarks about the alliance on the campaign trail.

Stoltenberg refused to answer questions about US President Joe Biden's fitness for office after a botched television debate performance, instead protesting that NATO must stay out of domestic politics.

Stoltenberg also said that the alliance will announce a new support project for Ukraine called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).

NATO "will take over" the coordination and provision of military aid to Ukraine and the training of Ukraine's armed force, Stoltenberg said, stressing this does not make the alliance part of the war.

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NATO allies at summit to unveil Ukraine 'bridge to membership'

Ukrainian national flag is pictured in front of the NATO emblem in central Kyiv

NATO allies at their summit in Washington next week will unveil a "bridge to membership" plan for Ukraine and announce steps to bolster Kyiv's air defenses, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

"Allies will reaffirm that Ukraine's future is in NATO, will make significant new announcements about how we're increasing NATO's military political and financial support for Ukraine. This is part of Ukraine's bridge to NATO," the official told reporters.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who is battling to remain a viable candidate for re-election after a stumbling debate performance against Republican Donald Trump, will play host to the leaders of NATO's 32 members beginning Tuesday in Washington.

Biden is expected to hold a rare solo news conference during the summit.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who lobbied unsuccessfully for a political invitation to join NATO at its summit in Vilnius last summer, has said that this year's summit should resolve the matter of inviting Kyiv to join.

The senior U.S. official described the "bridge to membership" plan as quite substantial that will include training coordination, logistics and force development.

"This is a very serious effort to get Ukraine in a position...where it will be ready to assume its roles and responsibilities within the alliance on day one," the official said.

Zelenskiy is expected to attend the summit. Ukraine has been trying to push back Russian advances in the Kharkiv area.

The senior U.S. official also said the United States and some NATO allies will announce new steps "to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses and military capabilities to help Ukraine continue to defend themselves today."

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