NATO will assume responsibility for coordinating the supply of weapons to Ukraine, which was previously handled by the United States.
This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg before a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Voice of America reports.
Thus, Stoltenberg said, the Alliance is seeking to protect the military assistance mechanism "as NATO sceptic Donald Trump seeks a second term as US president".
"I expect the Allies to agree on a comprehensive package for Ukraine. This is an agreement that NATO will play a leading role in providing and coordinating military support, security assistance and training to Ukraine," Stoltenberg said at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting.
The meeting comes ahead of a meeting of the Contact Group on Defence of Ukraine to be held in Brussels on 13 June under the chairmanship of US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin.
Stoltenberg called this a key element of the package for Ukraine that is expected to be approved at the NATO summit in Washington, along with long-term financial commitments.
Asked by journalists whether the transfer of the coordination role from the US to NATO is related to a potential change in the level of support for Ukraine if Trump wins the election, Stoltenberg replied: "The longer this war goes on, the more we need predictability and responsibility... We have seen, for example, that allies have made some promises, but not fulfilled them... We certainly appreciate what the United States and all Allies have done, which is unprecedented. At the same time, we saw that the United States spent six months agreeing on additional aid. Or how some promises from European allies have not been fulfilled.“
Stoltenberg expressed hope that a new approach to coordinating efforts and a strong NATO role would help Ukraine "gain the necessary predictability".
During the NATO summit in Washington, the allies are expected to agree on long-term military assistance for Ukraine at the level achieved since the beginning of the Russian invasion. We are talking about 40 billion euros annually.