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BRUSSELS — NATO countries are set to sign off on a new plan for the alliance to take over from the U.S. in coordinating military aid to Ukraine.
The shift is broadly perceived as a move by European allies to “Trump-proof” the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, given the possibility that former U.S. President Donald Trump could return to the White House in November elections. Trump is seen as likely to roll back U.S. commitments to Kyiv.
The contact group mechanism has been firmly under the control of the U.S. Department of Defense since the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022.
The sign-off confirmation comes following a deal between NATO and Budapest that allows Hungary — the European country most closely aligned with Moscow — to drop out of the new mechanism.
“Tomorrow [Friday], I expect ministers will agree the plan for NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, a key deliverable for the NATO Summit,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday at a press conference.
“The good news is that allies are stepping up; but Ukraine needs predictable support for the long term,” Stoltenberg added.
POLITICO first reported in February that the allies were mulling such a move out of fear that Trump, if re-elected president, could derail the system for providing Ukraine with aid.
The plan, which is expected to be approved at Friday’s meeting of defense ministers, has already been agreed by NATO ambassadors, a senior alliance official said.
Up to 500 NATO soldiers will now take part in what has so far been a U.S.-dominated working group, a NATO diplomat said.
Other senior NATO officials, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, said the U.S. would still retain political leadership of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The group is also known as the Ramstein format, named after the German military base where the 50-plus group of allies meet regularly to discuss Ukraine’s military needs.
“The U.S. leadership of UDCG will stay,” one of the officials said. “But NATO will play a coordinating role.”
That role involves four dimensions: coordinating training assistance by matching Ukrainian requirements; matching Ukrainian demands and requirements for equipment to donor offers; transferring equipment from donors to logistics hubs on NATO territory; and planning the long-term transformation of Ukraine’s armed forces.
