NATO secretary general asks allies for billions more in support for Ukraine – Politico

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged allies to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to support Ukraine in an effort to ease growing tensions within the alliance over assistance to Kyiv.

Source: Politico, a Brussels-based politics and policy news organisation

Details: Rutte's proposal, which could unlock tens of billions of dollars in additional aid, is already encountering firm pushback from several major NATO members.

He raised the issue during a closed-door meeting of NATO ambassadors late last month, according to two alliance diplomats and one person familiar with the matter, all speaking on condition of anonymity.

The discussions took place as part of preparations for an alliance summit scheduled for July in Ankara.

If approved, Rutte's proposal would effectively triple annual aid flows to Ukraine to around US$143 billion, based on NATO calculations of the combined GDP of alliance members. Ukraine received around US$45 billion in security assistance from allies in 2025, covering everything from weapons procurement and investments in Ukrainian defence companies to NATO-led programmes purchasing American weapons for Kyiv.

The proposal came in response to frustration among Northern and Baltic European countries, as well as the Netherlands and Poland, which contribute a significantly larger share of their GDP to Ukraine than larger Western and Southern European economies, according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, confirmed that concerns about unequal burden-sharing are regularly raised in closed meetings.

Rutte is seeking to secure continued support for Ukraine while minimising divisions within NATO, as assistance to Kyiv has been thrown into uncertainty since US President Donald Trump suspended nearly all new military aid, leaving European countries and other allies to shoulder most of the burden.

Quote from Rutte: "We are going into the Ankara summit, which will very much focus, of course, on Ukraine – keeping them as strong as possible."

Details: However, the proposal has drawn scepticism from some allies, particularly France and the UK, making its adoption in the current form unlikely. The diplomats noted that any alliance-wide target would require unanimous approval from all NATO members.

The idea of setting a GDP-based target is said to be just one of several options being discussed ahead of the 7-8 July summit.

Politico also noted that some NATO allies that are also members of the EU want their contributions to the recently approved €90 billion loan package for Ukraine – €60 billion of which will go towards military spending – to be counted towards any future commitments requiring additional support for Kyiv.

According to the diplomats, NATO foreign ministers are expected to discuss the issue further at a meeting in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg next week, which may help gauge support for the various proposals.

Background: Rutte promised that Alliance member states will provide Ukraine with US$60 billion in military support over 2026.

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