Following the \u201cRamstein\u201d format meeting, which took place with the participation of U.S. Secretary Pete Hegseth, Ukraine received commitments from 17 NATO member states to join the financing of the PURL program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced this at a joint briefing with Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rutte assured that NATO\u2019s priority is \u201cto support Ukraine\u2019s ability to fight and to be as strong as possible.\u201d He also expressed satisfaction that the United States has renewed its decision to supply Ukraine with military equipment and ammunition under the PURL initiative \u2014 meaning with European financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Secretary General noted that during the day, the number of countries ready to fund this initiative had almost tripled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the beginning of the day, six member states of the Alliance had commitments under PURL: the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. But after today\u2019s meeting, we have more than half of all Alliance members \u2014 17 states \u2014 that have taken on PURL commitments,\u201d he said. Rutte did not specify the full list of countries that joined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As is known, NATO has 32 members \u2014 meaning that 17 is indeed more than half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This also means that 11 additional states have joined PURL, exceeding expectations: earlier, it was reported that seven NATO countries were expected to announce their participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was held with the personal participation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It was the first session since February in which Hegseth participated in person. Previously, he either ignored the meetings or joined only those held via video link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the meeting, a U.S. government representative stated that the expansion of the initiative to purchase weapons from the United States for Ukraine is \u201can incredible signal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n