NATO vows to shower Ukraine with weapons (as soon as it can make them)

(Originally published July 10 in “What in the World“) Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 32 nations pledged at the start of their summit in Washington to boost military spending and fill the gap in weapons needed to defeat Russia in Ukraine.

Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the leaders will this week sign an agreement committing them to the new pledge, which will also coordinate weapons production. While U.S. defense companies have ramped up production, supply-chain problems and a shortage of workers have slowed their efforts. They say it will take as long as four years instead of two to double production.

U.S. President Joe Biden also announced Tuesday that the U.S., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Romania would give Ukraine five more air-defense systems. The U.S. and the Netherlands have given Ukraine one Patriot air-defense battery, while Germany has provided it with two. Biden said that the U.S. and its allies would send dozens more air-defense systems in the coming months: Germany, Romania, and the U.S. will each give Kyiv one more Patriot battery, while Italy will give it a European-made SAMP/T air-defense system.

The U.S. Army recently signed a $4.5 billion order for 870 more Patriot PAC-3 missiles. And last week, the Biden Administration approved the shipment of more missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot air-defense batteries, along with a host of other ammunition. But Ukrainian officials attending the NATO summit also plan to pressure Biden to lift his restriction against using U.S.-supplied, long-range Atacms against targets inside Russia. In particular, Ukraine wants to strike airbases launching strikes against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.

It was only last month that the White House lifted its restriction and allowed Ukraine to use American weapons against targets across the border inside Russia. The Atacms were kept as a lone exception.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also confirmed an earlier report that NATO would station a permanent official in Kyiv as a way of boosting its ties to Ukraine without granting its request for immediate NATO membership.