Five NATO countries block plan for mandatory Ukraine funding – Telegraph

The UK, France, Spain, Italy and Canada “aren’t very enthusiastic about the idea,” a source within the bloc has told the paper London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Ottawa have rejected a proposal for NATO member states to spend 0.25% of their GDP on the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, the Telegraph has reported. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was hoping that mandatory funding for Kiev would be approved at the bloc’s summit in Ankara, Türkiye on July 7-8, the Telegraph said in an article on Sunday. A NATO insider told the paper that Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Canada “aren’t very enthusiastic about the idea.” Out of the 32 member-states, the proposal was only supported by seven nations, all of which already spend 0.25% or more of their GDP on assisting Ukraine, the Telegraph said. According to data from the Kiel Institute, the Netherlands, Poland and the Nordic and Baltic countries currently spend 0.25% of their GDP or more arming Kiev. Read more NATO must ‘show its teeth’ to Russia – Czech president Last week, Rutte conceded that the plan did not have the unanimous backing within NATO required for it to be accepted. “I don’t think this one will be proposed” in the Turkish capital, he told journalists.

Mandatory funding had been intended to serve as a show of continued commitment to Ukraine by the bloc’s European members after American assistance to the government of Vladimir Zelensky ebbed significantly under US President Donald Trump, it added. A British foreign office spokesperson told the paper that “the UK continues to engage with NATO allies on all proposals to ensure the alliance can best support Ukraine.” Moscow has repeatedly decried Western aid to Kiev, saying that it will not prevent it from achieving its goals in the Ukraine conflict and only prolongs the fighting, increasing the risk of a direct clash between Russia and NATO. READ MORE: Ukrainian drones could trigger NATO-Russia war – Fico Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that NATO has been using Ukraine “with the blatant goal of creating problems for the existence of our country and setting up a springboard for threats to our security right on our borders.” The idea of “decolonizing” Russia has not yet been given up by the bloc, he warned.