NATO chief reveals size of Ukraine funding
NATO has sent Kiev weapons and support worth over $100 billion in the past year, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.
Since last February, the US-led military bloc has provided “unprecedented support to Ukraine, around 120 billion dollars in military, humanitarian and financial assistance,” Stoltenberg told reporters at the State Department.
While the US has played an “indispensable role,” Canada and the European members have contributed “over half” of the overall assistance, “including tanks, advanced air defense systems” and other weapons, he added.
According to Blinken, the US has contributed “nearly $30 billion” worth of military aid, while other NATO members gave $13 billion, as well as “tens of billions more in humanitarian and economic support.”
Blinken also said that “tilting the battlefield in Ukraine’s favor” is the key to an eventual diplomatic solution of the conflict.
After their joint press event, Stoltenberg and Blinken went to meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, with more funding for Ukraine on the agenda.
In December, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that the West had provided Ukraine with $97 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and supplies. Moscow has repeatedly warned that arming Ukraine only prolongs the conflict and risks a direct confrontation.
Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements for peace in the Donbass and insisting that its neighbor pledge to never join any Western military bloc. Ukrainian, German and French leaders have since admitted that the Minsk negotiations were a ploy to buy Ukraine time to prepare for war with Russia.
Though multiple Western officials have publicly said Ukraine is fighting for their “values” and world order, and Ukraine’s own defense minister said Kiev is carrying out a NATO mission, the US and NATO maintain they are technically not participants in the conflict.
