NATO Summit Agrees on Ukraine’s Defense Funding Plan for 2025

Alliance leaders agreed that member states should provide long-term military assistance to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The Alliance adopted the decision in which it committed, among other things, the amount of aid to Ukraine for 2025. ‘We affirm our determination to support Ukraine in building a force capable of defeating Russian aggression today and deterring it in the future. To that end, we intend to provide a minimum baseline funding of €40 billion within the next year,’ the decision adopted by NATO member states consensus says. In addition, the Alliance committed to long-term assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, not just support in 2025, to ‘provide sustainable levels of security assistance for Ukraine to prevail, taking into account Ukraine’s needs, our respective national budget procedures, and the bilateral security agreements which Allies have concluded with Ukraine’. Next year, at the summit in The Hague, the heads of state and government intend to review the contributions of Alliance members. It is also possible that the amount of aid based on Ukraine’s needs will be revised at future NATO summits. ‘We affirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine as a sovereign, democratic, independent state,’ NATO leaders said, expressing confidence that their assistance had a significant effect in supporting Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression. The NATO summit decision also proclaimed that Ukraine’s full membership had become irreversible.