NATO plans to double funding for comprehensive assistance package to Ukraine

NATO member states are trying to agree an increase in funding for Ukraine in the absence of consensus about offering Kyiv a timeline to join the alliance, Report informs referring to the Financial Times.

A meeting of NATO foreign ministers on April 4 will discuss doubling the commitments to their fund for Ukraine, which stands at about €250 million a year, to a €500 million target, four diplomats said.

Those financial pledges are aimed at mollifying irritation in Kyiv at widespread unwillingness within the alliance to discuss a concrete timeline for the country to join NATO.

Ministers are also set to discuss how to expand work on increasing interoperability between Ukraine’s army and NATO forces, improving the standards and practices of the country’s military, speeding up the transition from Soviet to modern NATO techniques, and deepening political ties between Kyiv and NATO, the people said.

Kyiv formally applied for membership in September but the alliance has taken no formal steps in response.

“There’s this application letter on the table and we’re just ignoring it,” said one of the diplomats. “Fine, membership might not be an option right now. But we can take concrete actions short of that or in support of that to show we believe in it long term.”

NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine was set up in 2016 to improve Ukraine’s resilience and security. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, it has been tapped to provide food, fuel, medical supplies, counter-drone equipment and amphibious bridges to Kyiv. But NATO officials say that planned spending already outstrips its budget.