NATO to Approve New Aid Package for Ukraine at Madrid Summit

The new aid package will facilitate Ukraine’s transition to modern weapons, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg believes. And at a meeting of the “Ramstein Contact Group’ in Brussels, they will also discuss what kind of assistance Kyiv needs. The defense ministers of NATO and a number of Western countries will announce new military assistance to Ukraine at a meeting in Brussels. This was announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, June 15, according to a DW correspondent. On this day the NATO headquarters will host a meeting of the military heads of the alliance with their Ukrainian colleague Oleksii Reznikov. In addition, the third meeting of the contact group on Ukrainian defense in the so-called Ramstein Format will take place. “I expect more announcements today. Both at the ministerial meeting and at the contact group meeting to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “We are working closely with Ukraine and with all partners to provide as much support as we can and as quickly as we can because there is an urgent need to increase it,” he said, adding that Reznikov at the meetings want to hear exactly what Ukraine sees as its primary weapons needs. Ukraine’s transition to NATO standards weaponry Stoltenberg also believes NATO leaders will approve a new aid package for Ukraine at the June 28-30 summit in Madrid. “I expect that at the NATO summit its member states will agree on a broad support package for Ukraine to help Ukraine in the long term transition from Soviet-era weapons to modern NATO weapons,” the secretary general reported. According to him, this package will be based on the weapons that NATO countries are already transferring to Ukraine. But the transition period will require a lot of exchange of knowledge and experience, Stoltenberg reminded. This is what the new package will focus on. The head of the North Atlantic Alliance also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received an invitation to attend the summit in Madrid. However, it is still unclear whether he will attend it in person or will take part in the discussion via video link, he said. DW