BRUSSELS: Nato leaders are to agree next week to a support package for Ukraine, shaping Kiev's future ties with the military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday in Brussels.
"We will make Ukraine even more stronger, and set out a vision for its future," said Stoltenberg about the Nato summit, set to being on Tuesday in Vilnius. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend the meeting.
The planned long-term support is to include a multi-year assistance programme, stronger political ties with Kiev and a reaffirmation of Nato's long-standing promise to admit Ukraine to the alliance.
Nato states agreed in 2008 that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance. However, the alliance, in general, rules out admitting a country with an ongoing territorial dispute.
When the support package was first announced in April, Nato diplomats said funding worth €500 million annually was under consideration. The summit is to send a "clear message" to Moscow, Stoltenberg said, adding that "Nato stands united and Russia's aggression will not pay."
Leaders at the summit are also to back plans on how to respond to a potential attack by Russia or a terrorist group and to boost arms production, Stoltenberg said.
To finance Nato's response to Russia's war in Ukraine and a changing security landscape, allies are to agree to invest at least 2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in defence per year, he added.
After years of low military expenditure, Nato is currently observing "the biggest increase in decades" among allies, Stoltenberg stated, with 11 out of 31 states already reaching or exceeding the 2 per cent in 2023.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called on Nato to resolve the issue of Sweden and Ukraine's membership bids, saying indecision is threatening the strength of the alliance and global security.
Battling a Russian war for more than 16 months, Kyiv has expressed increasing frustration with its Western allies over guarantees that it will one day join the alliance.
He spoke on a visit to Slovakia before he was due to head to Turkiye for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has stalled Stockholm's membership bid to Nato. "I think there is not enough unity on this," Zelensky said during a press conference.
"This is a threat to the strength of the alliance," the Ukrainian leader said, adding: "This is very important for the security of the whole world."
Zelensky said Kyiv expected "positive results or at least some steps towards the positive outcome" at a Vilnius summit next week.
"I believe that the situation with the aggressor, with Russia, depends on this," he said. dpa/AFP
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