NATO allies reaffirmed their commitment to Ukraine on Tuesday saying that the war-torn nation will one day become a member of the world’s largest security alliance, and promising more help — from winter aid to artillery — to help Ukraine's beleaguered armed forces to fight off Russia.
The pledges of support in Romania's capital, Bucharest, came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with NATO foreign ministers Tuesday to drum up urgently needed support aimed at ensuring that Moscow fails to defeat Ukraine as it bombards vital energy infrastructure.“Russia does not have a veto” on countries joining, he said in reference to the recent entry of North Macedonia and Montenegro into the security alliance.
Beyond Ukraine's immediate needs, NATO wants to see how it can help the country longer-term, by upgrading its Soviet-era equipment to the alliance's modern standards and providing more military training. This will help Ukraine to join NATO more quickly, in the years after the war has ended. Many of NATO’s 30 allies believe the focus now must solely be on defeating Russia, and Stoltenberg stressed that any attempt to move ahead on membership could divide them.
Estonia’s foreign minister, Urmas Reinsalu, went a step further than most, calling on his NATO partners to pledge 1% of their GDP to Ukraine in military support, saying it would make “a strategic difference.”The ministers will hold a working dinner with their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Tuesday evening.
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