Washington - Saba:
American media outlets reported, citing informed sources, that the United States and NATO are working on a new mechanism to supply Kyiv with US weapons it considers a priority, through funding from NATO countries.
The American media reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that the new mechanism stipulates that Ukraine will prepare a list of priority weapons, after which the allocation of roles among NATO countries will be discussed—either through the delivery of these weapons, payment for their costs, or transportation costs. According to Reuters, it is planned to send arms shipments worth approximately $500 million per shipment.
On July 11, after repeatedly criticizing his predecessor, Joe Biden, for allocating billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv, US President Donald Trump announced that NATO would bear the costs of purchasing US weapons to supply Ukraine, noting that this agreement was reached during the alliance's summit last June. Moscow believes that supplying weapons to Ukraine obstructs a peaceful settlement and directly implicates NATO countries in the conflict, describing it as "playing with fire."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also confirmed that any shipments containing weapons destined for Kyiv would be considered a legitimate target for Russia. The Kremlin stressed that supplying Western weapons to Ukraine does not help advance negotiations and will have a negative impact.