Vladimir Putin’s threats to the EU and NATO to wage war “for now” are not dissuading EU members from supporting Ukraine, which Ukraine invaded more than three years ago. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte explained on Wednesday: “Ukraine continues to show an amazing ability to resist. Putin believes it can outlast us, but we are not going anywhere. Today (Wednesday) is another clear sign that he is wrong. We are strengthening our support for Ukraine and increasing pressure on Russia.”
NATO’s highest civilian leader had avoided responding directly to the threat issued by the Russian autocrat the previous day. “I will not respond to everything Putin says,” he noted early in the day, before the start of the meeting with the military organization’s foreign ministers. However, he made clear upon his departure that support for Ukraine from the countries that make up the alliance and even from other countries not integrated but politically close to it (Australia and New Zealand) remained.
“This Wednesday we received news from allies who are allocating more resources to support Ukraine through the PURL program: Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland,” said Rutte, the former Dutch prime minister, referring to the program through which NATO members buy weapons from the United States that are sent to the attacked country. “More than two-thirds of Allies have committed to the programme, and although they were not attending our meeting, we knew Australia and New Zealand would also contribute, as the first NATO partners to do so,” he said. According to the calculations given by Rutte himself, this means that before the end of the year, thanks to this program, military materials worth about $5 billion will arrive in Kiev.