US leadership no longer sets a "ceiling" for Europe's aid to Ukraine

The United States has changed its approach to the efforts of other partners in supporting Ukraine's defence forces.

Source: Aliona Hetmanchuk, Head of Ukraine's diplomatic mission to NATO, during a meeting with journalists in Brussels, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Hetmanchuk stressed that she no longer feels the same restrictions on supporting Ukraine that had been previously imposed by the White House and also applied to other partners.

"During Biden's presidency, European allies faced a certain ceiling in terms of the formats of assistance and other countries had to stay under that ceiling and not exceed it. Now, on the contrary, Trump's administration is encouraging Europeans to show what they are ready to do for their own security and in terms of supporting Ukraine," she explained.

Meanwhile, she emphasised that this is not only about European assistance. Weapons supplies from Europe cannot fully replace US military support. "The US has weapons that other countries cannot compensate for, either by the type of weapons or by quantity and availability, meaning they are already in stock and can be delivered to Ukraine quickly," Hetmanchuk said.

Because of this, Ukraine is prioritising the issue of financing weapons purchases from the US under the PURL programme in all contacts with partners, including at the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting in Brussels, which will also be attended by Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"And when our European partners see [from Ukraine's explanations] that for some categories we cover 90% or even more through PURL, this becomes a strong argument for them to consider their own contribution to the initiative," she said.

Background:

• US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker announced on Tuesday 14 October that new weapons deliveries to Ukraine under the PURL initiative will be announced later this week.
• The United Kingdom and Germany have convened a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (also known as the Ramstein format) at NATO headquarters for Wednesday 15 October.
• Earlier, Kyiv said it particularly relies on the US for the supply of vital air defence systems and long-range missiles amid intensified Russian bombardments of Ukraine.

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