NATO Members to Buy Arms for Ukraine   10/15 06:16

   

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- NATO's two newest members, Finland and Sweden, said 
Wednesday that they would buy more weapons from the United States to give to 
Ukraine, a day after data showed that foreign military aid to the war-torn 
country had declined sharply in recent months.

   Over the summer, NATO started to coordinate regular deliveries of large 
weapons packages to Ukraine to help fend off Russia's war. The aim was to send 
at least one load a month of targeted and predictable military support, each 
worth around $500 million.

   Spare weapons stocks in European arsenals have all but dried up, and NATO 
diplomats have said that the United States has around $10-$12 billion worth of 
arms, air defense systems and ammunition that Ukraine could use.

   Under the financial arrangement -- known as the Prioritized Ukraine 
Requirements List, or PURL -- European allies and Canada are buying American 
weapons to help Kyiv keep Russian forces at bay. About $2 billion worth has 
already been allocated.

   Finland's defense minister, Antti Hkknen, said that his country has 
"decided to join the PURL, because we see that it's crucial that Ukraine gets 
the critical U.S. weapons." Finland will also provide a separate package of its 
own military equipment.

   Swedish Defense Minister Pl Jonson said that "Sweden stands ready to do 
more." He welcomed discussions among other Nordic countries and the Baltic 
nations -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- on sending an extra load too.

   "This is critical now because we've been seeing the wrong trajectory when it 
comes to support to Ukraine, that it's been going down and we want to see more 
stepping up," Jonson told reporters at NATO headquarters, where defense 
ministers were meeting.

   Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur also expressed concern about a drop 
in Western backing, noting that "the reality is that the share of the U.S. 
contributions to Ukraine has decreased significantly this year."

   U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the American "expectation 
today is that more countries donate even more, that they purchase even more to 
provide for Ukraine, to bring that conflict to a peaceful conclusion."

   The Trump administration hasn't donated military equipment to Ukraine. It 
has been weighing whether to send Tomahawk long-range missiles if Russia 
doesn't wind down its war soon, but it remains unclear who will pay for those 
weapons, should they ever be approved.

   Indeed, new data on Western military aid to Ukraine shows that despite the 
PURL program, support plunged by 43% in July and August compared to the first 
half of the year, according to Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks 
deliveries and funding for Kyiv.

   NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte saw no problem. Asked whether he was 
concerned about the drop in support for Ukraine, he said: "It has not. When you 
look at this year, it is more or less on average with last year."

   Criticism has mounted that France, Italy and Spain aren't doing enough to 
help Ukraine, and Hkknen called on all 32 NATO allies to take on their "fair 
share of the burden," saying that "everyone has to find the money because this 
is a crucial moment."

   France and Italy are mired in debt and struggling to raise money just to 
meet NATO's defense spending targets. Spain says it has other economic concerns 
and insists that it makes up for its spending gap at NATO by deploying troops 
on the alliance's missions.

   France also believes that European money should be spent on Europe's defense 
industry, not in the United States, and it doesn't intend to take part in PURL.