Europe will find more than US$15bn for weapons for Ukraine, says NATO secretary general

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is confident that allies will find the funds to purchase American weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Rutte at a press conference in Kyiv, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Answering a question about how it would be possible to raise the US$15.5 billion requested by Ukraine to finance the PURL programme, which is used to purchase weapons in the United States, Rutte promised that the funding would definitely be secured.

"I am absolutely confident that the money will be there, because we all know it's crucial," he said.

The secretary general, however, acknowledged that uneven contributions by different countries have a negative impact: "We have now two-thirds of allies participating in the PURL programme, and you are right, there is an issue of burden sharing."

He said that the situation in which some states help the Armed Forces of Ukraine purchase American weapons while others do not is abnormal.

"At the moment, some allies are doing a lot, a lot of allies are doing something, a few are doing nothing. But most are now involved in PURL. But we need a better burden-sharing within NATO. This is what we are working on," Rutte added.

He also highlighted individual nations making a significant contribution to procurement under the PURL programme, namely Canada, Norway and Germany, as well as Sweden and the Baltic states.

Background:

• At present, PURL is the only channel for purchasing air defence systems from the United States, primarily interceptors for Patriot systems.
• Earlier, Rutte said that 90% of missiles for Ukraine's air defence had been delivered through the PURL programme.
• Disruptions to supplies remain a painful issue for Kyiv; in particular, Zelenskyy explained his sharp criticism of Europe in Davos by problems with missiles for air defence systems.
• Mark Rutte has also urged the EU to move away from the "buy European" rule when it comes to weapons for Ukraine.

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