"We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100 percent," Trump said to NBC News. "So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons." He went on to say that NATO "is paying for those weapons."
Up until now, NATO has been coordinating weapons delivery to Ukraine but had not been involved in the purchase thereof, The New York Times reported. "I've just spoken with President Trump," NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said on Thursday, "[and] am now working closely with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need."
Presidents Trump's MAGA base in the US has been opposed to furthering a war that they feel Ukraine has no chance of winning. That war began with a Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine has been attempting to contain their borders ever since.
This new plan would hurry up the delivery of Patriot missile systems to the war-torn nation as well as ammunition. The deal between Trump and NATO nations was reached at the NATO leaders' summit in the Hague in June.
Rutte spoke with US officials Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chair General Dane Caine, and top NATO and US commander in Europe General Alexus Grynkewich on Friday. Support for the plan is growing among European ministers, he said.
"We have received political signals at the highest level – good signals – including from the United States, from our European friends. According to all reports, aid shipments have been restored," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.
