NATO Defense Ministers’ Meeting Kicks Off in Brussels: Focus on Support for Ukraine
On October 15, a meeting of NATO defense ministers began in Brussels. The NATO-Ukraine Council and the Ramstein Coalition will also meet on the same day.
Military observer Denis Popovich reported this in a commentary to “Pryamoy”.
Opening the meeting, Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that the issue of support for Ukraine would be one of the main issues in all discussions.
According to Brussels-based military observer Denis Popovich, topics related to military aid to Ukraine are heard in the responses of virtually all NATO defense ministers.
The PURL initiative, a model for the purchase of American weapons by European allies, is considered one of the key assistance instruments. Seven more countries are expected to join this mechanism, including Finland, which has already announced its intention and is preparing a new support package for Ukraine.
For the first time since February of this year, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth attended the meeting in person. In his opening remarks, he expressed support for the PURL initiative and emphasized Washington’s commitment to “peace through strength.”
“Peace is achieved when you are strong—not by uttering grandiose words, but by possessing real power that commands the adversary’s respect. And that’s exactly what NATO is doing now. We expect even more countries to contribute today to provide Ukraine with everything it needs,” Hegseth noted.
At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the issue of supplying long-range weapons systems to Ukraine will not be discussed at today’s meeting.
Earlier, “Pryamiy” reported that a meeting of NATO defense ministers would take place in Brussels on October 15 , during which a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council would be held. Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal will participate for the first time.
As a reminder, NATO is preparing a new support package for Ukraine. This week, new commitments from allies may be announced under the PURL program, an international initiative for centralized arms supplies to Kyiv.
It was previously reported that partners contributed $1.5 billion to NATO’s PURL initiative , which allows Ukraine to receive weapons from the United States.
Incidentally, in September,the Trump administration approved the first two NATO-funded military aid packages for Ukraine . These are the PURL (Purpose of Relief and Response) mechanisms, which allow for the rapid delivery of weapons from US stockpiles using funding from allies.
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