NATO chief Mark Rutte told at a press conference on Wednesday, the 16th of October, that the alliance will meet its 40 billion euro military aid pledge to Ukraine, but was vague on when Ukraine might join the alliance, after Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveiled his “victory plan” to the Ukrainian parliament aimed at securing an invitation to NATO membership and further arms supplies to force Russia to the negotiating table, reports Politico.
Zelenskyy will meet EU leaders and NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday to push his plan forward.
Rutte made no comment on Zelenskyy’s invitation, saying his plan contains many aspects that require closed-door discussions between NATO countries and Ukraine, while repeating NATO’s pledge that Ukraine’s path to membership is “irreversible”.
While NATO “strongly supports” Kyiv, Rutte said this “does not mean that I can say that I support the whole plan – that would be a bit difficult, because of course there are many issues that need to be better understood”.
“There are many aspects of the plan and many political and military issues. We relly need to hammer out the plan with Ukrainians to understand what is behind it, to see what we can and cannot do”, he added.
Although NATO has long said it would eventually allow Ukraine to join the alliance, it has not issued a real invitation since many fear the alliance could be dragged into a war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Rutte confirmed that NATO will meet the financial target set by former Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to maintain stable cash and arms support to Ukraine despite the uncertainties of the US presidential election.
“I can announce today that NATO committed 20.9 billion euros in military assistance to Ukraine in the first half of 2024, and the allies are on track to meet their commitments for the rest of the year,” he said.
While Ukraine’s western partners hesitate to give Kyiv permission to use donated weapons to attack targets inside Russia, Russia’s allies are stepping up their support for Moscow. Reports from Kyiv suggest that North Korean soldiers have joined the war, although NATO chief Rutte said this information has not yet been confirmed.
“The growing alignment of authoritarian actors such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran threatens the stability of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific region,” Rutte said.
In a sign of the global challenges to democracies, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will attend the NATO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on Thursday and Friday for the first time in the Alliance’s history.