NATO LEADERS HAVE pledged to give Ukraine at least €40 billion in military aid “within the next year” to help it fight against Russia at their summit in Washington today.

“Through proportional contributions, Allies intend to provide a minimum baseline funding of 40 billion euros within the next year, and to provide sustainable levels of security assistance for Ukraine to prevail,” a declaration from the summit said.

At the pomp of the three-day gathering in the US capital, President Joe Biden individually welcomed the other 31 leaders of the alliance.

Later, the President urged them to keep pace with Russia’s military production, which has stepped up sharply in the two years since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

“We can – and will – defend every inch of NATO territory and we’ll do it together,” Biden told the North Atlantic Council, the formal decision-making body of the alliance, at Washington’s convention center as the city sweltered in a heat wave.

Biden announced that Denmark and the Netherlands had begun sending US-made F-16 jets to Ukraine – making good on a key promise last year to Kyiv, which has struggled to gain parity in the air with Russia.

He earlier announced new air defense systems for Ukraine and said the United States had agreed to place long-range missiles periodically in Germany.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, visiting days after his Labour Party swept to power, promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Britain – unlike the United States – was united across partisan lines on supporting Ukraine.

Starmer made clear he had no issue with Ukraine using UK missiles to strike into Russian territory, remarks that drew a rebuke from Moscow.

The summit, Starmer told reporters, is showing Putin that NATO is “bigger now than it’s ever been, more united than it’s ever been, and absolutely clear-eyed about the threat of Russian aggression.”

- © AFP 2024, additional reporting by Muiris O’Cearbhaill