NATO chief announces €40bn military aid plan for Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed the alliance is to provide Ukraine with military aid worth €40 billion ($43 billion) in 2025 in a press conference on Friday.

The secretary general said allies have agreed to sustain this financial pledge next year as a "minimum baseline" to meet Ukraine's needs in the defence against the Russian invasion.

NATO leaders are meeting in Washington next week to celebrate the alliance's 75th anniversary and send a strong message of support to Ukraine.

The €40 billion pledge however is not the multi-year financial commitment to support Ukraine that Stoltenberg wanted allies to agree on. The alliance will also review the military aid next year.

The multi-year financial pledge was part of the secretary general's attempt to shore up the alliance's support for Ukraine in the event that Donald Trump returns to the US presidency in January 2025.

The United States is the major military power in NATO and is the alliance's highest defence spender. Trump however has repeatedly made sceptical remarks about the alliance on the campaign trail.

Stoltenberg refused to answer questions about US President Joe Biden's fitness for office after a botched television debate performance, instead protesting that NATO must stay out of domestic politics.

Stoltenberg also said that the alliance will announce a new support project for Ukraine called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).

NATO "will take over" the coordination and provision of military aid to Ukraine and the training of Ukraine's armed force, Stoltenberg said, stressing this does not make the alliance part of the war.