NATO leaders pledge at least $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine

NATO leaders pledged at a summit in Washington Wednesday Ukraine military aid worth at least 40 billion euros over the next year to help them fight Russia.

“Through proportional contributions, the allies intend to secure a minimum of €40 billion in core funding over the next year and provide sustained levels of security assistance to Ukraine to win,” a summit announcement said.

In their statement, the leaders also expressed deep concern about the close Sino-Russian ties, accusing Beijing of playing a key role in helping Moscow invade Ukraine.

In a statement issued at their summit in Washington, NATO leaders said China has become a decisive enabler for Russia in its fight against Ukraine through the so-called +borderless+ partnership with it and through its widespread support for Russia’s defense industrial base.

NATO leaders appealed to Beijing to cease all material or political support for the Russian war effort.

“This includes the transfer of dual-use items, such as weapons components, equipment and raw materials used in the Russian defense sector,” NATO summit statement said.

In their statement, the leaders stressed that China cannot support Europe’s biggest war in modern history without negatively affecting its interests and reputation.

The statement was issued before the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea took part in the summit on Thursday.

For the third consecutive year, the NATO Summit is attended by the leaders of the four Asia-Pacific partner nations.

Beijing has already angrily rejected NATO’s accusations, saying the US-led alliance is looking for a pretext to expand its influence eastward.

The United States has been pushing its European allies for years to pay more attention to the threats posed by China.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “I think the message that the alliance sent from this summit is very strong and very clear, and we clearly define China’s responsibility when it comes to enabling Russia to war”.

NATO announced on Wednesday that the 2026 summit of leaders of member states would be held in Türkiye.

This came in a final statement following the meeting of the heads of state and government of the Atlantic Council of NATO in Washington, DC.

The statement noted that the 2025 summit will be held in Netherlands and the next summit will be held in Türkiye 2026.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Washington will host the NATO summit, which celebrates its 75th anniversary.