American media, citing three sources familiar with the matter, reported that the new mechanism involves Ukraine preparing a list of priority weapons. Afterward, the roles among NATO countries will be discussed—either by delivering these weapons or by covering their costs or the expenses of their transportation. It is planned to send weapon shipments worth around $500 million each, according to Reuters.
On July 11, former US President Donald Trump announced, following his repeated criticisms of his predecessor Joe Biden for allocating billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv, that NATO would bear the costs of purchasing American weapons to supply Ukraine. He indicated that this agreement was reached during the alliance’s summit in June.
Moscow considers supplying weapons to Ukraine as an obstacle to a peaceful settlement and directly involving NATO countries in the conflict, describing it as “playing with fire.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also confirmed that any shipments containing weapons aimed at Kyiv would be considered a legitimate target for Russia. Meanwhile, the Kremlin emphasized that flooding Ukraine with Western weapons does not help advance negotiations and will have a negative impact.
