NATO countries are considering several options for long-term financing for Kyiv but struggle to agree.
Many allies in the Alliance are shying away from adopting specific multi-year commitments on aid spending to Ukraine. However, some allies are wary of formalizing the pledge with a specific number and want to promise to continue providing support at the previous level. At the same time, others do not want to publish the exact figures of their donations, fearing that it could reveal information about the true extent of their aid.
The multi-year plan was proposed at the end of May and should be presented to President Zelenskyy at the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington in early July. Abandoning the original idea of allocating $100B over five years, Stoltenberg proposed annual commitments of $42.7B (€40B).
The Allies may be able to strike a deal if the funds count towards NATO’s existing commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense. However, this could lead to a reduction in allies’ own defense spending, especially if the finance ministries do not agree to increase the overall level of the expenditure.