Stoltenberg comes to Kyiv with a €100bn initiative
29 April 2024 15:32
Today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports, citing Ukrinform.
During a joint briefing, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the subject of discussion at their meeting was Stoltenberg’s initiative to raise an additional €100 billion to finance Ukraine.
“Today we have discussed Jens’ initiative to create a special Fund for financial support of Ukrainian defence in the amount of EUR 100 billion for a period of five years. It is important that this is not at the expense of bilateral volumes that are marked by our agreements on security guarantees,”
– the President stressed.
Stoltenberg’s initiative of EUR 100 billion for Ukraine became known in early April this year. It is a fund of contributions from NATO allies over 5 years. The idea behind this step is to make assistance to Ukraine less dependent on the outcome of the US elections. According to Bloomberg, this decision may be made in July.
As a reminder, on 24 April, President Biden signed into law a bill worth $60.8bn to help Ukraine. The United States immediately announced a $1 billion aid package for Ukraine.
In particular, it included RIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles for air defence systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; small arms and ammunition, including .50 calibre ammunition to combat drones; ammunition for HIMARS; 155 mm artillery ammunition; Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and other equipment.
To date, the United States has allocated $6 billion for the production of weapons for Ukraine.
