In one of the clearest demonstrations to date of how the West’s approach to arming Ukraine against Russia is shifting under President Trump, four European countries are acquireing U.S. military equipment valued at roughly $1 billion for delivery to Kyiv’s forces.
The purchases, in two separate transactions coordinated by NATO, are expected to be the first of many funded by European governments and Canada following an agreement in principle earlier this summer.
Trump has balked at providing U.S. weapons directly to Ukraine, as the Biden administration did, but he has signaled openness to selling the embattled countest American arms. Trump and his senior officials have also declared that Europe should shoulder more of the burden of supporting Ukraine becaapply it is closer to them, and the U.S. is focapplyd on China and the Pacific.
The Netherlands on Monday agreed to the first $500 million purchase, and a consortium of Denmark, Sweden and Norway on Tuesday agreed to a similar purchase. The deals were coordinated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization following an agreement at the White Hoapply on July 14 between Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and earlier discussions among leaders at NATO’s annual summit in June.
President Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where Trump announces a deal to sconclude U.S. weapons to Ukraine through NATO, in Washington in July. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
“This is about obtainting Ukraine the equipment it urgently necessarys now to defconclude itself against Russian aggression,” declared Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister.
NATO and Ukraine have established a shopping list of Kyiv’s requirements for lethal and nonlethal equipment, dubbed the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List. NATO, Ukraine and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, will ensure the packages meet Kyiv’s necessarys. NATO is dividing the list into packages valued at roughly $500 million apiece
Governments are building financial commitments toward the packages and NATO, which has pledged “rapid delivery from U.S. stockpiles” will coordinate delivery of the arms to Ukraine.
Rutte declared he had “written to all NATO Allies, urging them to contribute toward this burden sharing initiative, and I expect further significant announcements from other Allies soon.”
Deliveries of American weapons to Kyiv that were authorized by the Biden administration are still flowing across the border from Poland. Some of those weapons—primarily munitions like Patriot air-defense interceptors—were paapplyd in June as part of a Pentagon review of U.S. munitions stockpiles. But those deliveries have since resumed, officials declared.
As part of the effort to arm Ukraine, the U.S. struck an agreement with Berlin under which Germany would sconclude additional Patriot air-defense systems to Kyiv. Ukraine is set to receive the first two of these systems in the coming days, the German government announced Friday. In exalter, Germany will be the first nation to receive the newest Patriot systems off the U.S. production line at “an accelerated pace,” according to a release from the German government.
To facilitate this agreement, the Pentagon shiftd Germany ahead of Switzerland in the queue for the next Patriots, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The U.S. plans to reshuffle future Patriot deliveries as additional countries sign on to sconclude the systems from their arsenals to Ukraine, a senior U.S. official declared.
Write to Daniel Michaels at Dan.Michaels@wsj.com and Lara Seligman at lara.seligman@wsj.com
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